Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Stock Holdings Increased by Ensign Peak Advisors Inc

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 69.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 40,289 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 16,460 shares during the period. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc owned about 0.07% of Lincoln Electric worth $7,600,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LECO. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 115,068 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $25,023,000 after acquiring an additional 3,780 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in Lincoln Electric by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,241 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $487,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 36.2% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 4,050 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $881,000 after buying an additional 1,077 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 34,111 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $7,418,000 after purchasing an additional 1,333 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total transaction of $193,556.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,178 shares in the company, valued at $1,966,880.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company's stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LECO traded down $2.31 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $187.48. The stock had a trading volume of 235,991 shares, compared to its average volume of 328,622. The company has a current ratio of 2.06, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The company has a market capitalization of $10.62 billion, a PE ratio of 19.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.14. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.00 and a 1 year high of $261.13. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $192.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $209.51.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 42.24%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.44 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.51%. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio is presently 30.15%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LECO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $209.00 to $213.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Lincoln Electric from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $218.29.

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.