Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC Buys 750 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 60.4% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,992 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 750 shares during the quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $449,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 16.2% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,351,223 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $255,597,000 after acquiring an additional 188,104 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the first quarter worth about $28,548,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 195.2% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 223,025 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $42,187,000 after purchasing an additional 147,483 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 24.4% in the 2nd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 504,479 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $104,589,000 after purchasing an additional 98,920 shares during the period. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC raised its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 576.6% in the 1st quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 78,840 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $14,913,000 after purchasing an additional 67,187 shares during the period. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LECO opened at $238.93 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $238.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $215.64. The company has a market cap of $13.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $161.11 and a 52 week high of $249.19.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.32 by $0.28. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 39.79%. The business had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.34 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.79 per share. This is a boost from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Barclays raised their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Wall Street Zen raised Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 11th. Finally, Roth Capital initiated coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research report on Friday, September 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $279.00 price target for the company. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $243.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lincoln Electric news, EVP Gabriel Bruno sold 7,305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.42, for a total transaction of $1,770,878.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 29,927 shares in the company, valued at $7,254,903.34. The trade was a 19.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 12,387 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.36, for a total value of $3,014,500.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,595,549.76. This represents a 18.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,692 shares of company stock valued at $5,745,148. Corporate 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.