Focus Partners Wealth Grows Stock Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Focus Partners Wealth raised its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,607 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares during the quarter. Focus Partners Wealth owned 0.07% of Lincoln Electric worth $7,613,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LECO. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 331.6% during the fourth quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 11,653 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $2,185,000 after acquiring an additional 8,953 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,159 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $3,404,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Centiva Capital LP increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 64.7% during the fourth quarter. Centiva Capital LP now owns 10,623 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,991,000 after acquiring an additional 4,172 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,436,000. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 15,932.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 334,582 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total value of $4,536,505.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 54,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,777,590.20. This trade represents a 27.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of Lincoln Electric stock traded up $5.09 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $203.01. The company had a trading volume of 634,777 shares, compared to its average volume of 334,135. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $161.11 and a one year high of $229.00. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $185.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $195.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The firm has a market cap of $11.33 billion, a PE ratio of 24.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.22 by ($0.06). Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 11.63%. The company had revenue of $365.45 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $974.39 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.23 earnings per share. Lincoln Electric's revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.48%. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.99%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on LECO. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Lincoln Electric from $178.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. StockNews.com raised Lincoln Electric from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $216.17.

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.