Vest Financial LLC Buys 2,551 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Vest Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 75.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,913 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,551 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $1,115,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LECO. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 2nd quarter worth $4,462,000. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 90.3% during the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,241 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $234,000 after acquiring an additional 589 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 6.6% in the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 53,384 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $10,070,000 after purchasing an additional 3,323 shares during the last quarter. Morton Community Bank increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 1.5% in the second quarter. Morton Community Bank now owns 19,927 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,759,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 2nd quarter worth about $12,627,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of Lincoln Electric stock opened at $176.58 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $10.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.14. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $193.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $214.00. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.00 and a twelve month high of $261.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 2.06.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 42.24% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company’s revenue was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.44 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is presently 30.15%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total transaction of $193,556.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,966,880.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LECO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Lincoln Electric from $209.00 to $213.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Loop Capital dropped their price target on Lincoln Electric from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 24th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on Lincoln Electric from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $218.29.

Lincoln Electric 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.