Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO Shares Bought by Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey

Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 3.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 20,696 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 674 shares during the quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $4,291,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 980.8% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 281 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 279.6% during the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 353 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in 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 acquiring an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC raised its position in Lincoln Electric by 619.3% in the second quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 410 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 353 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spire Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 132.9% in the 2nd quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 708 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $147,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Roth Capital set a $285.00 price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research cut Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $247.00.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of Lincoln Electric stock opened at $225.99 on Friday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $161.11 and a 12 month high of $249.19. 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 has a market cap of $12.44 billion, a PE ratio of 25.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $235.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $222.61.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.05 billion. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.79% and a net margin of 12.27%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.14 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be given a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is currently 33.83%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were 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 $2,140,351.71. The trade was a 9.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 12,387 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.36, for a total value of $3,014,500.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 55,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,595,549.76. This represents a 18.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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.