Bank of New York Mellon Corp Purchases 13,134 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 555,836 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 13,134 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.99% of Lincoln Electric worth $104,203,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,388 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $204,000. Diversify Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 17.8% in the 3rd quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,718 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $333,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. HM Payson & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Finally, Cambiar Investors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cambiar Investors LLC now owns 61,653 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $11,839,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 0.7 %

Lincoln Electric stock opened at $206.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.87. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.51 and a 52-week high of $261.13. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $196.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $196.97. The firm has a market cap of $11.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.36, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.54. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.63% and a return on equity of 40.19%. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.94 million. Equities analysts predict that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is presently 36.81%.

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In related news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the business’s 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 owns 54,660 shares in the company, valued at $11,777,590.20. The trade was a 27.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on LECO. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $233.60.

Lincoln Electric Company 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.