Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Buys Shares of 8,207 Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 8,207 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,539,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LECO. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 54.1% during the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 299 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 308.5% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 335 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the period. HM Payson & Co. bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the third quarter worth about $65,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 37.5% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 389 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 60.2% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 423 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 0.2 %

LECO stock opened at $207.80 on Wednesday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.51 and a twelve month high of $261.13. The company has a market cap of $11.73 billion, a PE ratio of 25.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $195.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $196.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.54. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 11.63%. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.94 million. On average, research analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is 36.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on LECO shares. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $233.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln Electric

In other Lincoln Electric news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total transaction of $4,536,505.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,777,590.20. The trade was a 27.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

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.