Teacher Retirement System of Texas Purchases 1,231 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 6.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,767 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,231 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas' holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $3,739,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in Lincoln Electric by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 21,199 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $3,974,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 2,541 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $481,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,644 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $871,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,293 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $623,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AXQ Capital LP lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. AXQ Capital LP now owns 2,870 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $538,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on LECO shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $178.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $206.40.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of Lincoln Electric stock traded up $1.15 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $220.48. The company's stock had a trading volume of 284,907 shares, compared to its average volume of 323,598. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $198.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $194.18. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $161.11 and a one year high of $222.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market cap of $12.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.20.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.22 by ($0.06). Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.44% and a net margin of 11.44%. The business had revenue of $365.45 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $974.39 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.23 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.99%.

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.