Crew Capital Management Ltd. Takes Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Crew Capital Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 3,275 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $614,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,163,119 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $218,050,000 after buying an additional 65,154 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 358,331 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $67,176,000 after buying an additional 2,088 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 22.4% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 459 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $86,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 255.1% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 174 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Finally, Norden Group LLC increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 3,472 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $651,000 after buying an additional 591 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In related news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 54,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,777,590.20. This represents a 27.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LECO has been the topic of several analyst reports. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $233.60.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 3.3 %

NASDAQ LECO opened at $193.61 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $196.45 and a 200 day moving average of $197.08. The company has a market capitalization of $10.86 billion, a PE ratio of 23.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.51 and a 1 year high of $261.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 1.25.

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

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.55%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.81%.

About Lincoln Electric

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.