Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Shares Sold by Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,733 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 124 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $594,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 1,422.2% during the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 137 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 81.1% during the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 172 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 1st quarter worth about $35,000. 79.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on LECO. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $208.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $232.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Monday, January 8th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $178.00 price target on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $210.25.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 0.3 %

LECO stock opened at $239.51 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $13.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.56, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $155.21 and a 12 month high of $261.13. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $248.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $217.25.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The industrial products company reported $2.45 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 13.01% and a return on equity of 45.09%. Lincoln Electric’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.94 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, March 31st were issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is 30.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln Electric

In other Lincoln Electric news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were 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 owns 22,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,554,575.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total transaction of $3,178,719.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 22,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,554,575.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total transaction of $834,202.98. Following the sale, 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. 2.63% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Lincoln Electric

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.