1,536 Shares in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Purchased by Aristides Capital LLC

Aristides Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 1,536 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $288,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LECO. Norges Bank bought a new position in Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter valued at $307,344,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter valued at about $92,117,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 12.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,462,232 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $474,527,000 after buying an additional 280,466 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Lincoln Electric by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,735,527 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $325,359,000 after acquiring an additional 234,515 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 121.7% in the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 268,229 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $50,284,000 after acquiring an additional 147,239 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lincoln Electric news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total value of $4,536,505.38. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,777,590.20. This represents a 27.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $233.60.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LECO opened at $172.02 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $197.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $198.01. The company has a market cap of $9.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $167.71 and a 12-month high of $250.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.54. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 11.63%. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.94 million. Equities analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is presently 36.81%.

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.