Inspire Investing LLC Buys 565 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Inspire Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 12.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,958 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $929,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. raised its position in 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 buying an additional 891,111 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 81.9% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,097,965 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $210,831,000 after acquiring an additional 494,464 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 12.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,462,232 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $474,527,000 after purchasing an additional 280,466 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted 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 purchasing an additional 256,872 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Absher Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric during the third quarter worth $24,604,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on LECO shares. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $195.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $230.75.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

NASDAQ:LECO opened at $198.62 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.51 and a 12-month high of $261.13. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $199.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $196.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.18.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.09. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.03% and a net margin of 11.93%. The business had revenue of $983.76 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $988.07 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.40 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.74 earnings per share for the current year.

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.