Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 27.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,380 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,366 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC's holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $1,079,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. UBS Group AG raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 130,910 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $18,915,000 after purchasing an additional 3,816 shares in the last quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 5,465 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $790,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 1st quarter worth approximately $277,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 64.0% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 184,000 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $26,586,000 after acquiring an additional 71,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dakota Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 1st quarter worth approximately $231,000. Institutional investors own 78.91% of the company's stock.

In other Lincoln Electric news, CEO Christopher L. Mapes sold 89,030 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total transaction of $17,291,406.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 180,384 shares in the company, valued at $35,034,180.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.64, for a total value of $204,204.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,716 shares in the company, valued at $2,174,958.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Christopher L. Mapes sold 89,030 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total transaction of $17,291,406.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 180,384 shares of the company's stock, valued at $35,034,180.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 109,117 shares of company stock valued at $21,218,936. Corporate insiders own 2.90% of the company's stock.

Several research firms recently commented on LECO. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $145.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 21st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $176.00 to $211.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 19th. CL King began coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research report on Tuesday, May 16th. They set a "neutral" rating on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $187.00.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Lincoln Electric

Shares of NASDAQ LECO opened at $188.01 on Thursday. The company's fifty day moving average price is $196.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $178.58. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $120.01 and a 1 year high of $210.86. The company has a market capitalization of $10.79 billion, a PE ratio of 22.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 2.03.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The industrial products company reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.32 by $0.12. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.04% and a return on equity of 46.60%. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.18 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.09 earnings per share for the current year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 13th. Investors of record on Saturday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.64 per share. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 28th. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.26%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected].

Before you consider Lincoln Electric, you'll want to hear this.

MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Lincoln Electric wasn't on the list.

While Lincoln Electric currently has a "Hold" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.

View The Five Stocks Here

Just getting into the stock market? These 10 simple stocks can help beginning investors build long-term wealth without knowing options, technicals, or other advanced strategies.

Sign up for MarketBeat All Access to gain access to MarketBeat's full suite of research tools:

View the latest news, buy/sell ratings, SEC filings and insider transactions for your stocks. Compare your portfolio performance to leading indices and get personalized stock ideas based on your portfolio.

Get daily stock ideas from top-performing Wall Street analysts. Get short term trading ideas from the MarketBeat Idea Engine. View which stocks are hot on social media with MarketBeat's trending stocks report.

Identify stocks that meet your criteria using seven unique stock screeners. See what's happening in the market right now with MarketBeat's real-time news feed. Export data to Excel for your own analysis.