California Public Employees Retirement System Has $18.50 Million Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

California Public Employees Retirement System trimmed its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 98,690 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 6,587 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.17% of Lincoln Electric worth $18,501,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 1.9% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 11,034 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $2,134,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,046 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $969,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. acquired a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the 3rd quarter valued at $241,000. Hilltop Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 48.0% in the third quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 1,795 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $345,000 after purchasing an additional 582 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 8.6% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 199,020 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $38,213,000 after buying an additional 15,745 shares during the period. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total transaction of $4,536,505.38. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 54,660 shares in the company, valued at $11,777,590.20. This represents a 27.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on LECO. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $233.60.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LECO traded up $17.42 on Wednesday, hitting $184.60. The stock had a trading volume of 499,130 shares, compared to its average volume of 327,496. The company has a market capitalization of $10.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.87. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $195.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $197.43. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $161.11 and a twelve month high of $243.91.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.54. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $995.94 million. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.63% and a return on equity of 40.19%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Lincoln Electric's payout ratio is presently 36.81%.

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.