Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Grows Stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 15.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 19,879 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,642 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $3,817,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LECO. Cumberland Partners Ltd grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 22.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd now owns 8,300 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,594,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Aigen Investment Management LP grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 2,360 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $453,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 40,929 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $7,859,000 after acquiring an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in Lincoln Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at about $385,000. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 31.7% during the 3rd quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 4,575 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $878,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LECO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered 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 given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $220.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total value of $193,556.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,178 shares in the company, valued at $1,966,880.88. The trade was a 8.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.63% of the company's stock.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 1.4 %

LECO stock traded down $3.02 during trading on Thursday, reaching $207.51. The company had a trading volume of 271,633 shares, compared to its average volume of 318,925. The company has a market cap of $11.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.12, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The business has a 50 day moving average of $193.08 and a 200 day moving average of $197.56. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.51 and a 52 week high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $983.76 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $988.07 million. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.93% and a return on equity of 40.03%. Lincoln Electric's quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.40 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. This is a boost from Lincoln Electric's previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio is currently 33.89%.

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.