Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Invests $7.45 Million in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 37,495 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,448,000. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. owned 0.07% of Lincoln Electric at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,954,544 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $748,605,000 after buying an additional 63,007 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,289,641 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $894,478,000 after purchasing an additional 15,200 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 2.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,958,667 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $373,594,000 after buying an additional 59,991 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 28.0% during the first quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 935,173 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $158,137,000 after buying an additional 204,296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 17.8% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 757,589 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $128,108,000 after acquiring an additional 114,619 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In related news, EVP Michele R. Kuhrt sold 4,290 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.86, for a total transaction of $793,049.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,079,767.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Lincoln Electric news, EVP Michele R. Kuhrt sold 4,290 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.86, for a total value of $793,049.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,660 shares in the company, valued at $3,079,767.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.64, for a total transaction of $204,204.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,174,958.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Seaport Res Ptn raised Lincoln Electric from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $192.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 30th. Oppenheimer cut shares of Lincoln Electric from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 21st. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research report on Wednesday, September 27th. They set a “sell” rating and a $170.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com raised Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $181.86.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LECO traded up $0.54 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $195.19. 227,539 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 397,200. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $181.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $185.58. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $139.92 and a one year high of $210.86. The company has a market cap of $11.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 27th. The industrial products company reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.25% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.04 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.15 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 12th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 31st will be issued a $0.71 dividend. This is a boost from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 28th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.98%.

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.