MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB Increases Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 3.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 92,276 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,962 shares during the quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB owned about 0.17% of Lincoln Electric worth $19,131,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of LECO. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 980.8% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 281 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 279.6% in the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 353 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter worth approximately $68,000. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 77.1% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 425 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, YANKCOM Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 12.2% in the first quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 553 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $105,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In other Lincoln Electric news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 12,387 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.36, for a total transaction of $3,014,500.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 55,866 shares in the company, valued at $13,595,549.76. This trade represents a 18.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Jennifer I. Ansberry sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.18, for a total transaction of $726,540.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 19,173 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,643,317.14. This trade represents a 13.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 22,692 shares of company stock valued at $5,511,918. Corporate insiders own 2.41% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 1.1%

LECO opened at $236.40 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $161.11 and a 1-year high of $249.19. The company has a market capitalization of $13.05 billion, a PE ratio of 26.56, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.22. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $235.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $207.72.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.32 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 39.79%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.34 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on LECO. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Roth Capital initiated coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research report on Friday, September 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $279.00 price objective on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $239.33.

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.