Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. Increases Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 5.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,255 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $610,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 255.1% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 174 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 54.1% in the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 299 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 37.5% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 389 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter valued at $76,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 28.7% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 431 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LECO opened at $197.54 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.24, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a 50 day moving average of $198.53 and a 200 day moving average of $197.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 1.25. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.51 and a 1-year high of $258.99.

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

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.52%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.81%.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In other news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was 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 owns 54,660 shares of the company’s stock, 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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

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.