Squarepoint Ops LLC Buys 11,104 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 143.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,821 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,104 shares during the quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $3,902,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the 2nd quarter valued at $354,063,000. Boston Partners bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 2nd quarter worth $141,550,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 439.8% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 596,617 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $123,691,000 after acquiring an additional 486,090 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 195.2% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 223,025 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $42,187,000 after purchasing an additional 147,483 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 24.4% during the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 504,479 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $104,589,000 after purchasing an additional 98,920 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LECO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Roth Capital set a $285.00 price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays lifted their price target on Lincoln Electric from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Lincoln Electric from $265.00 to $252.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $244.83.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LECO opened at $243.46 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $235.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $229.98. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $161.11 and a 1-year high of $252.00. The firm has a market cap of $13.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.25.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.05 billion. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.33% and a net margin of 12.56%.The business’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.14 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. This is a boost from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is currently 32.12%.

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.