Short Interest in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Rises By 20.7%

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 964,600 shares, a growth of 20.7% from the February 13th total of 799,400 shares. Currently, 1.8% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 302,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.2 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total transaction of $4,536,505.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 54,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,777,590.20. This represents a 27.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln Electric

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the third quarter worth approximately $385,000. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,473 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $283,000 after buying an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,646 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $316,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 174.4% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 40,242 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $7,727,000 after buying an additional 25,578 shares during the period. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new position in Lincoln Electric in the third quarter worth approximately $23,233,000. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of LECO stock traded down $0.38 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $190.60. 391,804 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 310,608. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $197.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $196.97. Lincoln Electric has a 1-year low of $169.51 and a 1-year high of $261.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The company has a market cap of $10.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.39, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.54. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.94 million. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.63% and a return on equity of 40.19%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric will post 9.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.81%.

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.