Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. Acquires 695 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 18.0% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,559 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 695 shares during the quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $875,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LECO. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 60.2% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 423 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 7.1% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 7,326 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,407,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 7,184.9% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 30,961 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,964,000 after purchasing an additional 30,536 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 39.7% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 40,453 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $7,838,000 after purchasing an additional 11,490 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VELA Investment Management LLC grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 34.1% in the 3rd quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 25,047 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,810,000 after purchasing an additional 6,369 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on LECO shares. StockNews.com downgraded Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $220.00.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of LECO stock opened at $207.51 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.76, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $193.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $197.63. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $169.51 and a one year high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.09. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.03% and a net margin of 11.93%. The business had revenue of $983.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $988.07 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. This is a boost from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is 33.89%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total value of $193,556.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,966,880.88. This trade represents a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

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.