Magnetar Financial LLC Buys New Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 8,980 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,694,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 115,068 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $25,023,000 after acquiring an additional 3,780 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,241 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $487,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $227,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its position in Lincoln Electric by 36.2% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 4,050 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $881,000 after purchasing an additional 1,077 shares during the period. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 1.0 %

LECO stock opened at $187.28 on Tuesday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.00 and a 12 month high of $261.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 2.06 and a quick ratio of 1.31. The company has a market capitalization of $10.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.14. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $192.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $209.96.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 42.24% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.44 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.52%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.15%.

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In related news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was 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 directly owns 11,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,966,880.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on LECO. StockNews.com cut Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $209.00 to $213.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $218.29.

About Lincoln Electric

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.