Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Shares Acquired by Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 34.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,001 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,794 shares during the quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd's holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $2,081,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter worth about $307,344,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $110,062,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 15,932.5% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 336,682 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $63,118,000 after buying an additional 334,582 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 22,146.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 291,874 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $55,211,000 after buying an additional 290,562 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,735,527 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $325,359,000 after buying an additional 234,515 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on LECO. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $180.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Lincoln Electric from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $222.60.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of LECO traded up $3.15 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $227.04. The company had a trading volume of 149,605 shares, compared to its average volume of 345,618. The company has a market capitalization of $12.68 billion, a PE ratio of 28.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $161.11 and a one year high of $226.85. The company's fifty day moving average price is $207.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $196.93.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.22 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $365.45 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $974.39 million. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.44% and a net margin of 11.44%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.23 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. Lincoln Electric's payout ratio is 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.