Private Advisor Group LLC Sells 105 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Private Advisor Group LLC reduced its holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 7.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,266 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 105 shares during the quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $239,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mizuho Bank Ltd. purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter worth approximately $68,000. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 77.1% in the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 425 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 22.2% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 517 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $97,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the period. Finally, YANKCOM Partnership boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 12.2% during the first quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 553 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $105,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on LECO. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $231.40.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 1.0%

NASDAQ LECO opened at $241.14 on Friday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $161.11 and a 12 month high of $244.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $211.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $198.81. The stock has a market cap of $13.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.21.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.32 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 39.79%. Lincoln Electric’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.34 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend 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.