Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Short Interest Update

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 964,600 shares, an increase of 20.7% from the February 13th total of 799,400 shares. Approximately 1.8% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 302,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.2 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln Electric

In other news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,777,590.20. This represents a 27.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mizuho Bank Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 255.1% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 174 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 54.1% during the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 299 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $68,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 37.5% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 389 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 106 shares during the period. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

LECO stock traded up $3.78 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $194.38. 393,454 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 310,919. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $197.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $196.97. Lincoln Electric has a 12 month low of $169.51 and a 12 month high of $261.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.85, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.94 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.