Telos Capital Management Inc. Takes $925,000 Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Telos Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 4,251 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $925,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. IFP Advisors Inc grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 1,422.2% during the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 137 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 81.1% during the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 172 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric during the 1st quarter worth approximately $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LECO has been the topic of a number of research reports. KeyCorp raised their price target on Lincoln Electric from $232.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Lincoln Electric in a research note on Monday, January 8th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $178.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $239.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $210.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total transaction of $3,178,719.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 22,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,554,575.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total transaction of $834,202.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,308,819.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total value of $3,178,719.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 22,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,554,575.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 1.2 %

LECO opened at $236.61 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 1.50. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $248.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $217.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.20. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $155.21 and a 12 month high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The industrial products company reported $2.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 45.09% and a net margin of 13.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.94 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.20%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.31%.

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.