Royce & Associates LP Buys 2,906 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Royce & Associates LP boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 227,134 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,906 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP owned 0.40% of Lincoln Electric worth $43,614,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,709,315 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,458,387,000 after acquiring an additional 15,062 shares during the period. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 48.0% in the second quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,747,083 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $518,210,000 after purchasing an additional 891,111 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 7.0% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,856,125 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $474,129,000 after purchasing an additional 121,914 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 81.9% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,097,965 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $210,831,000 after buying an additional 494,464 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 7.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 525,647 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $99,155,000 after buying an additional 38,206 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total transaction of $193,556.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,178 shares in the company, valued at $1,966,880.88. This represents a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company's stock.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ:LECO traded down $1.41 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $206.10. 174,995 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 318,284. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.51 and a fifty-two week high of $261.13. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $193.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $197.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.76, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.14.

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

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is an increase from Lincoln Electric's previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio is currently 33.89%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LECO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Lincoln Electric from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $220.00.

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.