Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Acquires New Stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 8,207 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $1,539,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LECO. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 81.9% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,097,965 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $210,831,000 after purchasing an additional 494,464 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 12.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,462,232 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $474,527,000 after purchasing an additional 280,466 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 121.7% in the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 268,229 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $50,284,000 after purchasing an additional 147,239 shares in the last quarter. Absher Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the third quarter valued at approximately $24,604,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 5.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,204,549 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $231,345,000 after acquiring an additional 61,640 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. KeyCorp increased their price target on Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com raised Lincoln Electric from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays increased their price target on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $233.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 directly owns 54,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,777,590.20. The trade was a 27.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company's stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LECO traded up $1.41 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $206.69. The stock had a trading volume of 457,401 shares, compared to its average volume of 280,492. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.87. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $195.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $196.79. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.51 and a 12-month high of $261.13. The stock has a market cap of $11.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.54. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 11.63%. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.94 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio is currently 36.81%.

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.