Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 16.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,953 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 1,692 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $2,478,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LECO. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 17.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,543 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $292,000 after buying an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 75.0% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,811 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $721,000 after buying an additional 1,633 shares during the last quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 1st quarter valued at $212,000. Absher Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 15.4% during the 1st quarter. Absher Wealth Management LLC now owns 183,442 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $34,700,000 after purchasing an additional 24,416 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,609 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,250,000 after purchasing an additional 442 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LECO opened at $235.02 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $238.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $214.44. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $161.11 and a twelve month high of $249.19.

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

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.79 per share. This is a boost from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.51%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on LECO. Wall Street Zen upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 11th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Roth Capital began coverage on Lincoln Electric in a research note on Friday, September 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $279.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.33.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In other news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.23, for a total transaction of $233,230.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 9,177 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,140,351.71. This represents a 9.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Gabriel Bruno sold 7,305 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.42, for a total value of $1,770,878.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 29,927 shares in the company, valued at $7,254,903.34. This trade represents a 19.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 23,692 shares of company stock valued at $5,745,148 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

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.