Farrow Financial Inc. Increases Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Farrow Financial Inc. grew its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 23.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,990 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,089 shares during the quarter. Farrow Financial Inc.’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $2,079,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 16.2% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,351,223 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $255,597,000 after acquiring an additional 188,104 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 11.6% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 726,112 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $136,124,000 after purchasing an additional 75,651 shares during the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter worth $110,062,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 535,434 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $100,384,000 after purchasing an additional 3,164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 29.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 508,686 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $95,363,000 after purchasing an additional 115,813 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Wall Street Zen raised Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $231.40.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of LECO opened at $243.84 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $212.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $199.24. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $161.11 and a one year high of $245.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.68. The stock has a market cap of $13.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.21.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.32 by $0.28. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.79% and a net margin of 12.27%. The company had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.34 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.71%.

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.