Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO Shares Sold by DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale trimmed its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 18.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,435 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,882 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $1,743,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 1.7% during the first quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT now owns 3,208 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $607,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership grew its position 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. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 1.9% in the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,354 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $695,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.6% in the first quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 11,541 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,183,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 3.0% in the first quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 2,521 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $477,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on LECO. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Saturday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 11th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $243.50.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of LECO opened at $241.81 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $238.96 and its 200-day moving average is $217.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.08. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $161.11 and a 12-month high of $249.19.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced 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. 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%. The business’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.34 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be given a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. This is an increase from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is 33.71%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,000 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.23, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 9.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Jennifer I. Ansberry sold 3,000 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.18, for a total transaction of $726,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 19,173 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,643,317.14. This trade represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,692 shares of company stock valued at $5,745,148. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.