Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Decreases Stock Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio reduced its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,134 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 386 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $3,760,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LECO. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 980.8% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 281 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 279.6% during the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 353 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 77.1% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 425 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 12.2% during the first quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 553 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $105,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, Curat Global LLC purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the first quarter worth approximately $110,000. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 0.6%

NASDAQ LECO opened at $235.83 on Wednesday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $161.11 and a 12 month 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 price-to-earnings ratio of 26.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.22. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $238.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $210.79.

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

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $2,140,351.71. This represents a 9.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 12,387 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.36, for a total transaction of $3,014,500.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 55,866 shares in the company, valued at $13,595,549.76. This trade represents a 18.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 23,692 shares of company stock valued at $5,745,148. 2.41% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LECO has been the subject of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted 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. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, 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 target price for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.33.

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.