Brown Advisory Inc. Reduces Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Brown Advisory Inc. lowered its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 69.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,951 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 4,511 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $369,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 75.0% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,811 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $721,000 after purchasing an additional 1,633 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 17.2% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,035 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $385,000 after purchasing an additional 298 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 7.2% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,609 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,250,000 after purchasing an additional 442 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 255.1% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 174 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 3,255 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $610,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $178.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $211.40.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

NASDAQ:LECO opened at $219.52 on Wednesday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $161.11 and a 1-year high of $225.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $203.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $195.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.26 billion, a PE ratio of 27.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.20.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by ($0.06). Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.44% and a net margin of 11.44%. The company had revenue of $365.45 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $974.39 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.23 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th were given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 30th. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is presently 36.99%.

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.