Bank of Montreal Can Acquires 206 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 1.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,034 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $2,134,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LECO. Diversified Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the second quarter worth $1,125,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 3.5% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 237,935 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $45,688,000 after buying an additional 7,962 shares during the last quarter. BDF Gestion bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the second quarter worth approximately $1,858,000. Bridges Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the second quarter valued at approximately $834,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the second quarter valued at approximately $3,042,000. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LECO opened at $212.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.20. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.51 and a 1 year high of $261.13. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $202.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $196.09. The stock has a market cap of $11.96 billion, a PE ratio of 25.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.16.

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

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is a positive change from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LECO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $220.00.

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.