GAMMA Investing LLC Purchases Shares of 1,020 Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,020 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 43.1% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 166 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 81.1% during the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 172 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 46.9% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 188 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 151.6% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 239 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on LECO. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Lincoln Electric from $232.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Lincoln Electric from $257.00 to $252.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Lincoln Electric from $239.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Lincoln Electric in a research note on Monday, January 8th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $178.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $217.00.

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In related news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 22,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,554,575.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total value of $834,202.98. Following 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total value of $3,178,719.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 22,402 shares in the company, valued at $5,554,575.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 4.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ LECO opened at $227.93 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $12.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.20. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $155.21 and a 1-year high of $261.13. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $249.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $219.38.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $981.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 45.09% and a net margin of 13.01%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.13 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.31%.

Lincoln Electric Company 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.