First Trust Advisors LP Acquires 75,651 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 11.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 726,112 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 75,651 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $136,124,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 28.7% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 431 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the third quarter valued at about $499,000. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter valued at about $496,000. US Bancorp DE grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 5,262 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $986,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 358,331 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $67,176,000 after acquiring an additional 2,088 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total value of $4,536,505.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,660 shares in the company, valued at $11,777,590.20. The trade was a 27.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 2.41% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LECO opened at $177.38 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $9.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.76, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $161.11 and a 12 month high of $242.65. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $193.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $196.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

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

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $187.00 to $179.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com cut Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays boosted their price target on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $178.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $219.00.

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.