Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Sells 9,873 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC decreased its holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 84.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,826 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 9,873 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $351,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 62.7% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 65,079 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $16,442,000 after buying an additional 25,082 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 21.1% in the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 45,409 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $11,593,000 after buying an additional 7,922 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,709,315 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,458,387,000 after buying an additional 15,062 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 142.9% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 13,702 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,500,000 after buying an additional 8,061 shares during the period. Finally, Councilmark Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 1st quarter valued at $1,943,000. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LECO has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com cut Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $221.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln Electric

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total value of $193,556.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,966,880.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 1.6 %

NASDAQ:LECO opened at $213.65 on Monday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.51 and a 1 year high of $261.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market cap of $12.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.50, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $191.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $197.64.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.09. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.03% and a net margin of 11.93%. The firm had revenue of $983.76 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $988.07 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. This is a boost from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is presently 33.89%.

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.