Proficio Capital Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 29,995 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,623,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC owned 0.05% of Lincoln Electric 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. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 3rd quarter worth about $385,000. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,473 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $283,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,646 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $316,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 174.4% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 40,242 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,727,000 after acquiring an additional 25,578 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new position in Lincoln Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at about $23,233,000. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 3.0 %

Lincoln Electric stock opened at $190.50 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $10.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.37, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.51 and a fifty-two week high of $261.13. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $197.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $197.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.87.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.54. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.63% and a return on equity of 40.19%. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.94 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is 36.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LECO has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $233.60.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In other news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total transaction of $4,536,505.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,777,590.20. This represents a 27.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.