Cerity Partners LLC Raises Stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 46.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 121,696 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 38,368 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC owned 0.22% of Lincoln Electric worth $23,368,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 48.0% in the 2nd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,747,083 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $518,210,000 after purchasing an additional 891,111 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 81.9% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,097,965 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $210,831,000 after purchasing an additional 494,464 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 7.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 525,647 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $99,155,000 after buying an additional 38,206 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 18,413.8% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 258,267 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $49,592,000 after buying an additional 256,872 shares during the period. Finally, Royce & Associates LP raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 227,134 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $43,614,000 after buying an additional 2,906 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total transaction of $193,556.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,966,880.88. The trade was a 8.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on LECO shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com cut shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $220.00.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 2.4 %

Lincoln Electric stock opened at $213.52 on Monday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.51 and a 52-week high of $261.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.48, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.14. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $197.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $196.52.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $983.76 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $988.07 million. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.03% and a net margin of 11.93%. The business’s revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.40 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is a boost from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is currently 33.89%.

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.