Raymond James Financial Inc. Makes New $92.12 Million Investment in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 491,369 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $92,117,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.87% of Lincoln Electric as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 7,326 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,407,000 after buying an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 60.2% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 423 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 18.0% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 4,559 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $875,000 after buying an additional 695 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 3rd quarter valued at about $207,000. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 31.7% during the 3rd quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 4,575 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $878,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LECO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus decreased 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. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $233.60.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In other news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 54,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,777,590.20. This trade represents a 27.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Lincoln Electric stock opened at $201.67 on Monday. 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 Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.51 and a 1-year high of $261.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The company’s 50-day moving average is $196.98 and its 200 day moving average is $197.15.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.81%.

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.