Fmr LLC Has $969,000 Stock Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Fmr LLC grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,046 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 366 shares during the quarter. Fmr LLC’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $969,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LECO. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 97.9% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 283 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 41.5% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 308.5% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 335 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. HM Payson & Co. bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at about $65,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 60.2% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 423 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LECO opened at $202.41 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The firm has a market cap of $11.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.16. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $205.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $195.80. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $169.51 and a one year high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.09. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.93% and a return on equity of 40.03%. The business had revenue of $983.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $988.07 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.40 earnings per share. Lincoln Electric’s revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.75 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.48%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.80%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on LECO shares. StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. KeyCorp raised their price target on Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $195.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $225.17.

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.