New York Life Investment Management LLC Trims Stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

New York Life Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,944 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 64 shares during the quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $1,293,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 19.9% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,049,854 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $190,853,000 after buying an additional 174,278 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 8.9% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 721,598 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $131,179,000 after buying an additional 58,695 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 10.4% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 619,974 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $112,705,000 after buying an additional 58,254 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.5% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 473,234 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $86,029,000 after buying an additional 2,326 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 361,637 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $78,642,000 after buying an additional 8,223 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LECO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $241.00 to $238.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Lincoln Electric from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Monday, April 29th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Lincoln Electric from $232.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Lincoln Electric from $257.00 to $252.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $228.00.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

LECO opened at $228.76 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $244.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $222.35. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.00 and a 12-month high of $261.13. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market cap of $13.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.28, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.23.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $981.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 43.81% and a net margin of 13.23%. Lincoln Electric’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.13 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.15%.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In other news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total value of $834,202.98. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,308,819.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric 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.