Citadel Investment Advisory Inc. Takes $605,000 Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Citadel Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 3,044 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $605,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Machina Capital S.A.S. acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the first quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Money Concepts Capital Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 68.0% in the fourth quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp now owns 257 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Vigilant Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the first quarter valued at about $59,000. 75.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on LECO shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $176.00 to $211.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 19th. Oppenheimer cut Lincoln Electric from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 21st. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $200.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $187.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Jennifer I. Ansberry sold 8,962 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.27, for a total transaction of $1,794,819.74. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,570 shares in the company, valued at $3,919,283.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, EVP Jennifer I. Ansberry sold 8,962 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.27, for a total transaction of $1,794,819.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 19,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,919,283.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.64, for a total transaction of $204,204.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,174,958.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of Lincoln Electric stock traded up $0.17 on Friday, hitting $181.20. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 699,753 shares, compared to its average volume of 366,987. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $120.01 and a 52-week high of $210.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $193.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $180.36. The company has a market capitalization of $10.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.17.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 27th. The industrial products company reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.32 by $0.12. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 46.60% and a net margin of 12.04%. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.18 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 13th. Investors of record on Saturday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.64 per share. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 28th. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.26%.

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, as well as consumables used in the brazing and soldering alloys market.