Sei Investments Co. Purchases 28,199 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 60.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 74,976 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,199 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. owned about 0.13% of Lincoln Electric worth $14,054,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vestcor Inc grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 85.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 8,180 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,571,000 after acquiring an additional 3,771 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 28.7% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 431 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the third quarter valued at $499,000. Financial Counselors Inc. raised its position in Lincoln Electric by 20.3% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 31,290 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,008,000 after purchasing an additional 5,274 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter worth about $496,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LECO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays raised their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of 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, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $233.60.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total value of $4,536,505.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 54,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,777,590.20. This trade represents a 27.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LECO opened at $190.29 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.51 and a twelve month high of $255.60. The company has a fifty day moving average of $198.68 and a 200-day moving average of $197.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.54. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.94 million. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.63% and a return on equity of 40.19%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.