Vestcor Inc Purchases 2,062 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Key Points

• Vestcor Inc increased its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. by 36.4%, bringing its holdings to $1.46 million, while overall, 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
• A recent earnings report showed Lincoln Electric beating analysts' expectations with $2.60 EPS and $1.09 billion in revenue, indicating a year-over-year revenue growth of 6.6%.
• The company has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.75, resulting in an annualized dividend of $3.00 and a yield of 1.2%, set to be paid on October 15th.

Vestcor Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 36.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,724 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,062 shares during the quarter. Vestcor Inc's holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $1,461,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mizuho Bank Ltd. bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter valued at $68,000. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 22.2% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 517 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $97,000 after buying an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Finally, YANKCOM Partnership raised its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LECO. Morgan Stanley increased 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 price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $231.40.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ LECO traded down $0.78 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $243.06. The company's stock had a trading volume of 218,562 shares, compared to its average volume of 352,128. The stock has a market cap of $13.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.08. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $161.11 and a one year high of $246.83. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $212.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $199.24.

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

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.