Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. Sells 9,904 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. cut its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 16.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 51,163 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 9,904 shares during the period. Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. owned about 0.09% of Lincoln Electric worth $9,592,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of LECO. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,601,734 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,050,157,000 after purchasing an additional 18,805 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,735,527 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $325,359,000 after buying an additional 234,515 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $307,344,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Lincoln Electric by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,235,582 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $231,691,000 after buying an additional 31,033 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,163,119 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $218,050,000 after acquiring an additional 65,154 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Lincoln Electric news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total value of $4,536,505.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 54,660 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,777,590.20. This trade represents a 27.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 3.6 %

LECO stock traded up $6.57 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $187.57. The company's stock had a trading volume of 70,627 shares, compared to its average volume of 328,633. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $161.11 and a 12 month high of $242.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The business's 50 day moving average price is $191.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $196.49. The company has a market cap of $10.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.54. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.60%. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on LECO shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $178.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Lincoln Electric from $187.00 to $179.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. StockNews.com cut Lincoln Electric from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $219.00.

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.