Aristides Capital LLC Invests $288,000 in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Aristides Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 1,536 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $288,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new position in Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter valued at about $153,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 6,120 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Bank Ltd. bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. World Investment Advisors raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 34.9% during the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 3,505 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $657,000 after buying an additional 907 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter valued at $1,408,000. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LECO has been the subject of a number of research reports. 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. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. 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 company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $233.60.

Remove Ads

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Lincoln Electric stock traded up $4.21 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $181.13. The stock had a trading volume of 226,675 shares, compared to its average volume of 328,371. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $161.11 and a 52-week high of $243.04. The company has a market capitalization of $10.15 billion, a PE ratio of 22.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The firm's fifty day moving average is $194.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $197.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.54. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion for 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio is currently 36.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lincoln Electric 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,777,590.20. The trade was a 27.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 2.63% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.