Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,029 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $390,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LECO. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. increased its position in Lincoln Electric by 48.0% during the second quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,747,083 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $518,210,000 after acquiring an additional 891,111 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 81.9% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,097,965 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $210,831,000 after purchasing an additional 494,464 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 18,413.8% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 258,267 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $49,592,000 after purchasing an additional 256,872 shares during the last quarter. Absher Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $24,604,000. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the third quarter worth approximately $23,233,000. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln Electric

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,178 shares in the company, valued at $1,966,880.88. The trade was a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on LECO. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. StockNews.com cut Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $220.00.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

LECO opened at $208.51 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $196.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $197.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.77 billion, a PE ratio of 24.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 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. 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $983.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $988.07 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.40 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.75 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.44%. This is a boost from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.89%.

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.