Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Shares Acquired by Tower Research Capital LLC TRC

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 123.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,904 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,159 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $732,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 21,199 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,974,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,737 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $326,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 806 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $151,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,634 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,813,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,644 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $871,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LECO. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $178.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $187.00 to $179.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $219.00.

Insider Activity

In other Lincoln Electric news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ LECO opened at $185.76 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.41 billion, a PE ratio of 22.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $161.11 and a 1-year high of $238.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $190.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $196.46.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.54. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 11.63%. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.94 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.61%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.81%.

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.