Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Short Interest Update

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) was the target of a large growth in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 964,600 shares, a growth of 20.7% from the February 13th total of 799,400 shares. Approximately 1.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 302,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.2 days.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 1.1 %

NASDAQ:LECO traded down $2.05 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $192.02. 1,036,872 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 314,367. The business's 50-day moving average price is $198.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $196.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. Lincoln Electric has a 1 year low of $169.51 and a 1 year high of $258.99. 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 posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.54. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.94 million. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 11.63%. Analysts predict that Lincoln Electric will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current year.

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Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Lincoln Electric's payout ratio is currently 36.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lincoln Electric news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was 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 owns 54,660 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,777,590.20. This trade represents a 27.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln Electric

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,601,734 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,050,157,000 after purchasing an additional 18,805 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 12.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,462,232 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $474,527,000 after acquiring an additional 280,466 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,735,527 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $325,359,000 after acquiring an additional 234,515 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter valued at about $307,344,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,235,582 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $231,691,000 after buying an additional 31,033 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on LECO shares. KeyCorp raised their price target on Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Barclays increased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln Electric from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $233.60.

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.