Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. Buys 9,100 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 245.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,800 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,100 shares during the period. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $2,654,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Boston Partners purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $141,550,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,548,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 195.2% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 223,025 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $42,187,000 after acquiring an additional 147,483 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 24.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 98,920 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 5.6% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,558,783 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $323,167,000 after purchasing an additional 83,035 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ LECO opened at $229.00 on Friday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $161.11 and a 1 year high of $249.19. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $233.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $224.14. The company has a market cap of $12.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.73, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.08.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.08. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.79% and a net margin of 12.27%.The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.14 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. This is a positive change from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is 33.83%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lincoln Electric news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 12,387 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $13,595,549.76. The trade was a 18.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.23, for a total transaction of $233,230.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 9,177 shares in the company, valued at $2,140,351.71. This represents a 9.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LECO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Wall Street Zen lowered Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Roth Capital set a $285.00 price objective on Lincoln Electric and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $247.00.

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.