Vancity Investment Management Ltd Purchases Shares of 3,524 Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Key Points

• Vancity Investment Management Ltd purchased 3,524 shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. for approximately $667,000 in the first quarter.
• Lincoln Electric reported a strong earnings performance, with an EPS of $2.60, exceeding expectations and indicating a yearly revenue increase of 6.6%.
• The company has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.75, which will be paid to shareholders on October 15th, representing a yield of 1.2%.

Vancity Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 3,524 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $667,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in LECO. Brooklyn Investment Group increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 279.6% during the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 353 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter valued at about $68,000. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 77.1% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 425 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 12.2% during the 1st quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 553 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $105,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Curat Global LLC purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric during the 1st quarter valued at about $110,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Roth Capital assumed coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Friday, September 5th. They set a "buy" rating and a $279.00 target price for the company. 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. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $239.33.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of LECO traded down $3.71 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $239.13. The company had a trading volume of 214,868 shares, compared to its average volume of 246,400. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $235.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $207.50. 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 1-year low of $161.11 and a 1-year high of $249.19. The stock has a market cap of $13.20 billion, a PE ratio of 26.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.22.

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

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lincoln Electric news, EVP Jennifer I. Ansberry sold 3,000 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.18, for a total transaction of $726,540.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 19,173 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,643,317.14. The trade was a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Gabriel Bruno sold 7,305 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.42, for a total transaction of $1,770,878.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 29,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,254,903.34. This trade represents a 19.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 22,692 shares of company stock valued at $5,511,918. Insiders own 2.63% of the company's stock.

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.