Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Purchases Shares of 13,223 Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 13,223 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,511,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 40.5% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 18,561,962 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $656,165,000 after purchasing an additional 5,354,141 shares during the period. Diamant Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 24,685.8% in the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,839,568 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $956,360,000 after acquiring an additional 3,824,077 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter worth approximately $415,155,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,306,641 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $313,175,000 after purchasing an additional 6,070 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Algebris UK Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the second quarter valued at $44,811,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on LECO. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Monday, August 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $340.00 price objective on the stock. DA Davidson started coverage on Lincoln Electric in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $320.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $257.00 to $283.00 in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $307.22.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 1.0%

LECO stock traded up $2.60 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $259.80. 124,872 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 387,812. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $268.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $263.38. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $216.22 and a 1-year high of $310.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.98. The company has a market cap of $14.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.21.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.12. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.35% and a return on equity of 39.23%. The company had revenue of $1.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.60 earnings per share. Lincoln Electric’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 11.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.57%.

Lincoln Electric Profile

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc (NASDAQ: LECO) is a Cleveland, Ohio-based manufacturer of welding, cutting and automation products. Founded in 1895 by John C. Lincoln, the company serves industrial, construction, energy, transportation and other end markets that use fabrication and joining technologies.

Its product portfolio includes arc-welding machines, welding consumables such as electrodes and wire, plasma and oxyfuel cutting equipment, robotic welding systems, and related automation solutions.