Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Plans $0.71 Quarterly Dividend

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.71 per share by the industrial products company on Monday, July 15th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th.

Lincoln Electric has raised its dividend by an average of 9.9% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 29 consecutive years. Lincoln Electric has a payout ratio of 27.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Lincoln Electric to earn $10.30 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 27.6%.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ LECO opened at $238.36 on Friday. Lincoln Electric has a twelve month low of $155.21 and a twelve month high of $261.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market cap of $13.55 billion, a PE ratio of 25.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $248.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $217.94.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The industrial products company reported $2.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 45.09% and a net margin of 13.01%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.94 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Lincoln Electric will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Lincoln Electric in a research report on Monday, January 8th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $178.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $239.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on Lincoln Electric from $232.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $210.50.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In related news, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total value of $834,202.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,150 shares in the company, valued at $2,308,819.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total value of $3,178,719.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 22,402 shares in the company, valued at $5,554,575.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total value of $834,202.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,308,819.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State of Wyoming raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 492 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Brinker Capital Investments LLC raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 2.2% in the first quarter. Brinker Capital Investments LLC now owns 3,702 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $510,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 3.0% in the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,795 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $344,000 after buying an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 5.4% in the first quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 1,670 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $282,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Advisor Networks LLC raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 6,505 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,415,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.