Meeder Advisory Services Inc. Buys Shares of 6,299 Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 6,299 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $223,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the second quarter worth about $4,893,000. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,593,000. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 40.5% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 18,561,962 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $656,165,000 after acquiring an additional 5,354,141 shares during the last quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric during the 2nd quarter valued at about $279,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric during the second quarter worth about $1,600,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on LECO. Wall Street Zen raised Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Monday, August 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $340.00 price target for the company. DA Davidson assumed coverage on Lincoln Electric in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $320.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $257.00 to $283.00 in a report on Monday, August 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $307.22.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 1.0%

NASDAQ LECO traded up $2.60 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $259.80. The company had a trading volume of 124,872 shares, compared to its average volume of 387,812. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $268.47 and its 200 day moving average is $263.38. The company has a market capitalization of $14.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.21. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.22 and a fifty-two week high of $310.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.20.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.12. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.23% and a net margin of 12.35%.The business had revenue of $1.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.60 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 11.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.57%.

Lincoln Electric Company Profile

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc (NASDAQ: LECO) is a Cleveland, Ohio-based manufacturer of welding, cutting and automation products. Founded in 1895 by John C. Lincoln, the company serves industrial, construction, energy, transportation and other end markets that use fabrication and joining technologies.

Its product portfolio includes arc-welding machines, welding consumables such as electrodes and wire, plasma and oxyfuel cutting equipment, robotic welding systems, and related automation solutions.