Nordea Investment Management AB Boosts Stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 41,274 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,654 shares during the quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB owned 0.07% of Lincoln Electric worth $7,789,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 97.9% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 283 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 41.5% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 308.5% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 335 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. HM Payson & Co. bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 3rd quarter worth about $65,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 60.2% during 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on LECO shares. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $195.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $234.60.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of LECO opened at $185.45 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $202.80 and a 200-day moving average of $195.79. The company has a market cap of $10.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.85. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.51 and a 1 year high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $983.76 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $988.07 million. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.93% and a return on equity of 40.03%. Lincoln Electric’s revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.40 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.62%. This is an increase from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is presently 35.80%.

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.