Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO Shares Sold by Blair William & Co. IL

Blair William & Co. IL reduced its holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 5.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,339 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 75 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $278,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of LECO. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 188,104 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 1st quarter worth about $28,548,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 195.2% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 223,025 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $42,187,000 after buying an additional 147,483 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 24.4% in the 2nd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 504,479 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $104,589,000 after buying an additional 98,920 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 576.6% in the 1st quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 78,840 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $14,913,000 after buying an additional 67,187 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on LECO. Stifel Nicolaus raised 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. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 11th. KeyCorp upped their target price 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. Roth Capital began coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Friday, September 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $279.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $239.33.

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In other news, EVP Jennifer I. Ansberry sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.18, for a total value of $726,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 19,173 shares in the company, valued at $4,643,317.14. This trade represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 $7,254,903.34. This trade represents a 19.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 23,692 shares of company stock valued at $5,745,148. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LECO opened at $235.02 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $238.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $214.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.41, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.20. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $161.11 and a 52 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.32 by $0.28. The business 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 business’s revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.34 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. This is a boost from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 31st. 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.