State Street Corp Has $474.53 Million Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,462,232 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 280,466 shares during the period. State Street Corp owned about 4.36% of Lincoln Electric worth $474,527,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 97.9% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 283 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 41.5% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 300 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 308.5% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 335 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the period. Finally, Gladius Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $65,000. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of LECO stock traded down $1.85 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $208.07. 363,689 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 314,068. The company's 50 day moving average price is $203.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $195.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.85. The company has a market cap of $11.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.05, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.16. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.51 and a 12 month high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.09. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.03% and a net margin of 11.93%. The firm had revenue of $983.76 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $988.07 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.40 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Lincoln Electric's previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.44%. Lincoln Electric's payout ratio is 33.89%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on LECO shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Lincoln Electric from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target 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.