Axa S.A. Acquires New Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Mar 1st, 2023

Axa S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO – Get Rating) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 6,800 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $855,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of LECO. BDO Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Lincoln Electric in the 1st quarter worth about $35,000. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 33.2% in the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 305 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the third quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Finally, Adirondack Trust Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $54,000. 73.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on LECO. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $149.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 20th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $174.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 21st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $167.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $149.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $164.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln Electric

In related news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 2,482 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.15, for a total value of $372,672.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 22,507 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,379,426.05. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 3.16% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LECO opened at $167.93 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.67 billion, a PE ratio of 20.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $160.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $146.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.83. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $118.17 and a fifty-two week high of $176.52.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 21st. The industrial products company reported $1.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.04. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 52.02% and a net margin of 12.56%. The company had revenue of $930.93 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $924.20 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.61 EPS. Lincoln Electric’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.64 per share. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 30th. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is presently 31.80%.

Lincoln Electric Company Profile

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Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc engages in the manufacture of arc welding equipment, consumable welding products and other welding and cutting products. Its welding products include arc welding power sources, wire feeding systems, robotic welding packages, fume extraction equipment, consumable electrodes and fluxes.