Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Shares Bought by Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT

Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 58,796 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 1,315 shares during the quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $11,091,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its position in Lincoln Electric by 1,755.5% during the 2nd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 45,849 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $8,649,000 after buying an additional 43,378 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the second quarter valued at about $3,042,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 7.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 525,647 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $99,155,000 after purchasing an additional 38,206 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 12.5% in the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,576 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,240,000 after purchasing an additional 730 shares during the period. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.3% in the second quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 78,994 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $14,901,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares during the period. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LECO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $209.00 to $213.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 24th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. StockNews.com lowered Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their target price on Lincoln Electric from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $218.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total transaction of $193,556.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,178 shares in the company, valued at $1,966,880.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 0.1 %

Lincoln Electric stock opened at $184.52 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $10.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.14. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.00 and a 52 week high of $261.13. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $193.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $212.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 2.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 42.24% and a net margin of 12.48%. Lincoln Electric’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.44 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.15%.

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.