Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Increases Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 24.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 504,479 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 98,920 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P.’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $104,589,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 980.8% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 281 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 279.6% during the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 353 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 77.1% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 425 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 12.2% during the 1st quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 553 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $105,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Curat Global LLC purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the 1st quarter worth approximately $110,000. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LECO has been the subject of several research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Roth Capital started coverage on Lincoln Electric in a report on Friday, September 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $279.00 target price on the stock. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.33.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 2.0%

LECO opened at $236.39 on Friday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $161.11 and a one year high of $249.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.05 billion, a PE ratio of 26.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $239.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $211.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.68.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.32 by $0.28. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.79% and a net margin of 12.27%.The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.34 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.23, for a total value of $233,230.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 9,177 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,140,351.71. The trade was a 9.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 12,387 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.36, for a total value of $3,014,500.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,595,549.76. The trade was a 18.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 23,692 shares of company stock valued at $5,745,148. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric 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.