Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO Position Trimmed by Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third Bancorp trimmed its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 4.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,948 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 87 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $404,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LECO. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 16.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 188,104 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 51.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 137,330 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 2.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 7,656 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 8.9% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 362,561 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $68,582,000 after purchasing an additional 29,505 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 330,822 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $62,578,000 after purchasing an additional 2,079 shares during the period. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Lincoln Electric news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 12,387 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.36, for a total value of $3,014,500.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,595,549.76. The trade was a 18.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.23, for a total transaction of $233,230.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 9,177 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,140,351.71. This represents a 9.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 23,692 shares of company stock valued at $5,745,148 in the last ninety days. 2.41% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Roth Capital assumed coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Friday, September 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $279.00 price objective for the company. 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. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.33.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of LECO opened at $235.83 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $238.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $210.79. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $161.11 and a one year high of $249.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The company has a market capitalization of $13.02 billion, a PE ratio of 26.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.22.

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

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is 33.71%.

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.