JPMorgan Chase & Co. Raises Stock Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 15.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,735,527 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 234,515 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 3.08% of Lincoln Electric worth $325,359,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 255.1% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 174 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 54.1% in the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 299 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 37.5% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 389 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter valued at about $76,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,660 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 available through this link. 2.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 4.1 %

Shares of LECO traded down $7.41 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $172.02. 459,602 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 324,688. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.87. The company has a market cap of $9.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The stock's 50-day moving average is $197.46 and its 200-day moving average is $197.81. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $168.09 and a fifty-two week high of $250.92.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.94 million. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.63% and a return on equity of 40.19%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.74%. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio is currently 36.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on LECO. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays lifted their price target on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $233.60.

Lincoln Electric 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.