Voya Investment Management LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Voya Investment Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 14.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,920 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 5,066 shares during the quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC owned 0.06% of Lincoln Electric worth $5,849,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 16.2% during the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,351,223 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $255,597,000 after acquiring an additional 188,104 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 51.2% during the 1st quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 405,559 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $76,715,000 after acquiring an additional 137,330 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 365,987 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $69,230,000 after acquiring an additional 7,656 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 362,561 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $68,582,000 after acquiring an additional 29,505 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 330,822 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $62,578,000 after acquiring an additional 2,079 shares in 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 $239.76 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.94, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $236.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $208.36. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $161.11 and a fifty-two week high of $249.19.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.32 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion during 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.34 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.71%.

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In related news, EVP Gabriel Bruno sold 7,305 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.42, for a total transaction of $1,770,878.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 29,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,254,903.34. This trade represents a 19.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.23, for a total transaction of $233,230.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 9,177 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,140,351.71. The trade was a 9.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 23,692 shares of company stock worth $5,745,148. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LECO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Roth Capital assumed coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research report on Friday, September 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $279.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $239.33.

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.