Brown Advisory Inc. Sells 4,511 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Brown Advisory Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 69.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,951 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 4,511 shares during the quarter. Brown Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $369,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter valued at about $307,344,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter worth about $110,062,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 15,932.5% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 336,682 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $63,118,000 after purchasing an additional 334,582 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 22,146.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 291,874 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $55,211,000 after buying an additional 290,562 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,735,527 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $325,359,000 after purchasing an additional 234,515 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

NASDAQ LECO opened at $219.52 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $203.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $195.28. The company has a market cap of $12.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.20. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $161.11 and a 1-year high of $225.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.19.

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

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LECO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $178.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $211.40.

Lincoln Electric Company 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.