Vestcor Inc Buys 3,771 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Vestcor Inc raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 85.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,180 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,771 shares during the quarter. Vestcor Inc's holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $1,571,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LECO. Elios Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $999,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its position in Lincoln Electric by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 237,935 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $45,688,000 after acquiring an additional 7,962 shares during the period. Bridges Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric during the 2nd quarter valued at about $834,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the second quarter worth approximately $3,042,000. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 15.3% during the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 19,879 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $3,817,000 after purchasing an additional 2,642 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LECO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp increased 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. StockNews.com raised Lincoln Electric from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Lincoln Electric from $195.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $225.17.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ LECO traded down $1.45 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $207.63. 221,792 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 314,340. The company's fifty day moving average is $204.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $195.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.85. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.51 and a fifty-two week high of $261.13. The stock has a market cap of $11.72 billion, a PE ratio of 24.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.16.

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

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.44%. This is a boost from Lincoln Electric's previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio is 35.80%.

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.