Mach 1 Financial Group LLC Purchases Shares of 1,048 Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Mach 1 Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 1,048 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $228,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CM Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 25,909.0% in the fourth quarter. CM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 178,942 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $39,040,000 after purchasing an additional 178,254 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 38.3% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 17,397 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,783,000 after acquiring an additional 4,820 shares during the period. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 8,965 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,955,000 after acquiring an additional 647 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 27,387 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,956,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the period. Finally, Cumberland Partners Ltd increased its position in Lincoln Electric by 81.8% during the fourth quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd now owns 6,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,305,000 after purchasing an additional 2,700 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total value of $3,178,719.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 22,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,554,575.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total transaction of $3,178,719.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 22,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,554,575.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total transaction of $834,202.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,308,819.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on LECO shares. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Lincoln Electric in a research report on Monday, January 8th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $178.00 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $241.00 to $238.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $257.00 to $252.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $221.86.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of LECO stock opened at $219.33 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The business has a 50 day moving average of $246.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $220.75. The company has a market cap of $12.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.28, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.23. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.00 and a 52 week high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.08. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 13.23% and a return on equity of 43.81%. The company had revenue of $981.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.13 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.61 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 30th will be issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.15%.

Lincoln Electric Company 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, 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.