Morey & Quinn Wealth Partners LLC Invests $756,000 in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Morey & Quinn Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,030 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $756,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Modern Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter worth about $1,480,000. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE boosted its position in Lincoln Electric by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 11,452 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,147,000 after purchasing an additional 995 shares during the period. 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 last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 32,449 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $6,083,000 after purchasing an additional 2,450 shares during the period. Finally, Fox Run Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter worth $366,000. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

LECO stock traded down $4.57 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $190.29. The stock had a trading volume of 277,097 shares, compared to its average volume of 322,679. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $198.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $197.71. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.51 and a 52 week high of $255.60.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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 analysts' expectations of $995.94 million. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.63% and a return on equity of 40.19%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio is 36.81%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total value of $4,536,505.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company's stock.

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.