Savant Capital LLC Has $1.36 Million Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Savant Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 160.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 6,539 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 4,028 shares during the quarter. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $1,356,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 131,378 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $24,851,000 after purchasing an additional 353 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 1.2% in the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 7,861 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,487,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 15.5% in the 1st quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 1,558 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $295,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its position in Lincoln Electric by 88.4% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,912 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $551,000 after buying an additional 1,366 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 77.1% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 425 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $80,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 12,387 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.36, for a total transaction of $3,014,500.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 55,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,595,549.76. This represents a 18.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.23, for a total value of $233,230.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 9,177 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,140,351.71. The trade was a 9.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 2.5%

Shares of LECO stock opened at $236.21 on Thursday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $161.11 and a fifty-two week high of $249.19. 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 50 day simple moving average of $236.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $222.02. The company has a market cap of $13.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.54, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.25.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.05 billion. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.79% and a net margin of 12.27%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.14 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. This is an increase 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 presently 33.83%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on LECO shares. Zacks Research lowered shares of Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Barclays lifted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Wall Street Zen cut Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Roth Capital set a $285.00 price objective on Lincoln Electric and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $247.00.

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.