17,966 Shares in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Acquired by Point72 Asset Management L.P.

Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 17,966 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,368,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter valued at $1,056,000. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in Lincoln Electric by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 174,275 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $32,671,000 after purchasing an additional 10,784 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 28.3% in the 4th quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 7,739 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,451,000 after purchasing an additional 1,707 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,404,000. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 393,783 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $73,823,000 after purchasing an additional 21,166 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Barclays boosted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $178.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $216.17.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of LECO opened at $201.07 on Wednesday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $161.11 and a 12 month high of $229.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $185.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $195.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The stock has a market cap of $11.22 billion, a PE ratio of 24.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.22 by ($0.06). Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 11.63%. The company had revenue of $365.45 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $974.39 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.23 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.49%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.99%.

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.