Norden Group LLC Buys 591 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Norden Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 20.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,472 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 591 shares during the quarter. Norden Group LLC’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $651,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,462,232 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $474,527,000 after purchasing an additional 280,466 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,204,549 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $231,345,000 after acquiring an additional 61,640 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 81.9% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,097,965 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $210,831,000 after acquiring an additional 494,464 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 555,836 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $104,203,000 after acquiring an additional 13,134 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 505,701 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $94,804,000 after acquiring an additional 23,327 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In related news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total transaction of $4,536,505.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 54,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,777,590.20. This trade represents a 27.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 2.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Barclays upped their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com raised Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $233.60.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

LECO opened at $200.31 on Tuesday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.51 and a 12-month high of $261.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $196.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $197.02. The company has a market capitalization of $11.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.58, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.54. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 11.63%. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.94 million. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is currently 36.81%.

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.