Royal Bank of Canada Grows Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings by 2.1% in the first quarter, holding a total of 54,709 shares valued at approximately $10.35 million.
• Investment analysts have raised their price targets for Lincoln Electric, with KeyCorp setting a target of $280.00 and Roth Capital at $279.00, reflecting a consensus "Moderate Buy" rating.
• Lincoln Electric recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.75, yielding about 1.2%, payable on October 15th to investors of record.

Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 2.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 54,709 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,143 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 0.10% of Lincoln Electric worth $10,349,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brooklyn Investment Group increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 279.6% in the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 353 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the period. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter valued at $68,000. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 77.1% in the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 425 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 12.2% in the 1st quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 553 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $105,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, Curat Global LLC acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric in the 1st quarter valued at $110,000. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LECO has been the topic of several recent research reports. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Roth Capital initiated coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Friday, September 5th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $279.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $239.33.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In related news, EVP Gabriel Bruno sold 7,305 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.42, for a total value of $1,770,878.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 29,927 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,254,903.34. This represents a 19.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jennifer I. Ansberry sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.18, for a total transaction of $726,540.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 19,173 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,643,317.14. The trade was a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LECO opened at $242.84 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $161.11 and a fifty-two week high of $249.19. The stock has a market cap of $13.40 billion, a PE ratio of 27.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.22. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $234.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $207.28.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.32 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.04 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 39.79%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.34 EPS. Analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio is presently 33.71%.

About Lincoln Electric

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, and sells welding, cutting, and brazing products worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Americas Welding, International Welding, and The Harris Products Group. It offers brazing and soldering filler metals, arc welding equipment, plasma and oxyfuel cutting systems, wire feeding systems, fume control equipment, welding accessories, and specialty gas regulators, and education solutions, as well as a portfolio of automated solutions for joining, cutting, material handling, module assembly, and end of line testing, as well as involved in brazing and soldering alloys, and in the retail business in the United States.

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