Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.71 (NASDAQ:LECO)

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 30th will be given 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 dividend yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th.

Lincoln Electric has raised its dividend payment by an average of 9.9% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 29 years. Lincoln Electric has a payout ratio of 27.0% indicating that 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 %

LECO opened at $238.36 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $248.62 and a 200-day moving average of $217.94. The stock has a market cap of $13.55 billion, a PE ratio of 25.44, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.20. Lincoln Electric has a 52 week low of $155.21 and a 52 week 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.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,308,819.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total transaction of $3,178,719.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 22,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,554,575.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $834,202.98. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,308,819.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. State of Wyoming boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 14.7% during the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 492 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Brinker Capital Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.2% during the 1st 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 lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 3.0% during the 2nd 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 lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 5.4% during the 1st 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 lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 1.5% during the 4th 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.