Banco Santander S.A. Buys New Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Banco Santander S.A. purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 3,392 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $651,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LECO. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 174.4% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 107 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the second quarter worth $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 97.9% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 283 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 41.5% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 300 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 308.5% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 335 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total value of $193,556.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,178 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,966,880.88. The trade was a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 2.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 2.4 %

LECO stock traded up $5.01 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $213.52. The company's stock had a trading volume of 418,556 shares, compared to its average volume of 305,021. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.51 and a 1 year high of $261.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.48, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $197.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $196.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.85.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $983.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $988.07 million. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.93% and a return on equity of 40.03%. The firm's revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.40 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.75 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This is an increase from Lincoln Electric's previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric's payout ratio is presently 33.89%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on LECO. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. KeyCorp raised their price target on Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Lincoln Electric from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $220.00.

About Lincoln Electric

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.