Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Acquires 924 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 8.0% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 12,491 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 924 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $2,356,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,709,315 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,458,387,000 after acquiring an additional 15,062 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,856,125 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $474,129,000 after purchasing an additional 121,914 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter valued at $336,627,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 687,841 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $149,578,000 after purchasing an additional 67,867 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 561,636 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $122,138,000 after buying an additional 6,280 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LECO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Lincoln Electric from $209.00 to $213.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Loop Capital decreased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Lincoln Electric from $213.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $219.43.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Lincoln Electric stock opened at $193.61 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $194.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $218.06. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.00 and a twelve month high of $261.13. The company has a market capitalization of $11.02 billion, a PE ratio of 20.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 2.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 42.24% and a net margin of 12.48%. Lincoln Electric’s quarterly revenue was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.44 EPS. Research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.03 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is 30.15%.

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.