Bayforest Capital Ltd Takes Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 1,347 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $279,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 17.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,543 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $292,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 17.2% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,035 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $385,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 75.0% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,811 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $721,000 after acquiring an additional 1,633 shares in the last quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric in the first quarter worth $212,000. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 0.6% in the first quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 330,822 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $62,578,000 after acquiring an additional 2,079 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.23, for a total transaction of $233,230.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 9,177 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,140,351.71. This represents a 9.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jennifer I. Ansberry sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.18, for a total transaction of $726,540.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 19,173 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,643,317.14. This trade represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 23,692 shares of company stock valued at $5,745,148. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LECO has been the subject of several research reports. Roth Capital initiated coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research report on Friday, September 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $279.00 target price for the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 11th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $239.33.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

NASDAQ LECO opened at $238.49 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $239.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $213.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $161.11 and a 12-month high of $249.19. The firm has a market cap of $13.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.80, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.20.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.32 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 39.79%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.34 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. This is a positive change from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is currently 33.71%.

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.