Oak Thistle LLC Makes New Investment in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 4,325 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,020,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 2nd quarter valued at about $354,063,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 5.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 83,035 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 2nd quarter worth $141,550,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 439.8% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 596,617 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $123,691,000 after purchasing an additional 486,090 shares during the period. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 8.4% during the 2nd quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 581,580 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $120,573,000 after purchasing an additional 45,185 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on LECO shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Roth Capital set a $285.00 target price on Lincoln Electric and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Zacks Research cut Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $265.00 to $252.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $244.83.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of Lincoln Electric stock opened at $243.69 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $13.41 billion, a PE ratio of 26.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.25. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $161.11 and a 1 year high of $252.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.71 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $235.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $230.16.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.08. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.56% and a return on equity of 40.33%. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.14 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.12%.

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.