WealthPlan Investment Management LLC Buys 340 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

WealthPlan Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 40,929 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $7,859,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its position in Lincoln Electric by 62.7% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 65,079 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $16,442,000 after purchasing an additional 25,082 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its position in Lincoln Electric by 21.1% in the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 45,409 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $11,593,000 after purchasing an additional 7,922 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Lincoln Electric by 0.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,709,315 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,458,387,000 after purchasing an additional 15,062 shares during the last quarter. Councilmark Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the first quarter worth $1,943,000. Finally, Diversified Trust Co bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the second quarter worth $1,125,000. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LECO has been the topic of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $221.67.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of LECO opened at $218.28 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.14. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.51 and a 12-month high of $261.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $191.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $197.58.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $983.76 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $988.07 million. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.93% and a return on equity of 40.03%. The business’s revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.40 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is a positive change from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is currently 35.80%.

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In related news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total value of $193,556.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,178 shares in the company, valued at $1,966,880.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.