Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Shares Bought by Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 4.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,936 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $948,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC now owns 191,113 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $36,698,000 after acquiring an additional 7,685 shares during the period. Carnegie Investment Counsel raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 4.2% in the third quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 21,034 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,039,000 after purchasing an additional 855 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 4.8% during the third quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 1,303 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its position in Lincoln Electric by 26.2% in the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 4,340 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $835,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 97.9% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 283 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 1.3 %

LECO opened at $194.71 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $188.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $202.91. 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 Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.00 and a fifty-two week high of $261.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.67, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.14.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 42.24% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.44 EPS. Lincoln Electric’s quarterly revenue was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on LECO shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $221.67.

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,966,880.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.