Nelson Capital Management LLC Takes Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Nelson Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 3,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $562,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LECO. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 81.9% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,097,965 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $210,831,000 after acquiring an additional 494,464 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 12.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,462,232 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $474,527,000 after purchasing an additional 280,466 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 121.7% during the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 268,229 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $50,284,000 after purchasing an additional 147,239 shares during the period. Absher Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $24,604,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Lincoln Electric by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,204,549 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $231,345,000 after purchasing an additional 61,640 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 0.2 %

Lincoln Electric stock opened at $207.80 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.51 and a 12 month high of $261.13. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $195.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $196.66. The stock has a market cap of $11.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.54. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.94 million. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.63% and a return on equity of 40.19%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.44%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on LECO shares. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. KeyCorp upped their price target on Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $233.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total transaction of $4,536,505.38. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 54,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,777,590.20. The trade was a 27.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is owned by 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.