Kera Capital Partners Inc. Invests $341,000 in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Kera Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,646 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $341,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 980.8% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 281 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 279.6% during the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 353 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter valued at $68,000. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 77.1% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 425 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Finally, YANKCOM Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 12.2% during the 1st quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 553 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $105,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In other news, EVP Gabriel Bruno sold 7,305 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.42, for a total value of $1,770,878.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 29,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,254,903.34. This trade represents a 19.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 12,387 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.36, for a total transaction of $3,014,500.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,595,549.76. This represents a 18.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 22,692 shares of company stock valued at $5,511,918. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Roth Capital began coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Friday, September 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $279.00 price target on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $239.33.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of Lincoln Electric stock opened at $239.13 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $13.20 billion, a PE ratio of 26.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.22. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $161.11 and a 12-month high of $249.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $235.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $207.50.

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

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.71%.

Lincoln Electric 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.