Raymond James Financial Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 491,369 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $92,117,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 3.0% in the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,644 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $316,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 3.2% in the third 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. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,737 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $326,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 806 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $151,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,634 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,813,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In related news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,660 shares in the company, valued at $11,777,590.20. The trade was a 27.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 2.9 %

NASDAQ:LECO opened at $201.67 on Monday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.51 and a 12 month high of $261.13. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $196.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $197.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The company has a market capitalization of $11.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.74, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18.

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

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.49%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. 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. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $233.60.

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.