Vestcor Inc Grows Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Vestcor Inc raised its position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 36.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,724 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying 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 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of LECO. LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 32,449 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $6,083,000 after purchasing an additional 2,450 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 7,940 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,489,000 after purchasing an additional 448 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 3,658 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $686,000 after buying an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 82,447 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $15,456,000 after buying an additional 2,383 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Lincoln Electric by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 41,459 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $7,772,000 after buying an additional 4,028 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on LECO shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen raised Lincoln Electric from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $231.40.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of LECO opened at $241.14 on Friday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $161.11 and a twelve month high of $244.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.09, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.21. The firm's 50-day moving average is $211.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $198.81.

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

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.99%.

Lincoln Electric Company Profile

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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