Capital International Investors Cuts Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Capital International Investors cut its position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 66.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 380,731 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 745,455 shares during the quarter. Capital International Investors owned 0.67% of Lincoln Electric worth $71,376,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LECO. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in Lincoln Electric by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 21,199 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $3,974,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,737 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 806 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $151,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,634 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,813,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,644 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $871,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In other Lincoln Electric news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the business'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 transaction of $4,536,505.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,660 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,777,590.20. The trade was a 27.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 3.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LECO traded up $5.34 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $186.34. The company had a trading volume of 214,970 shares, compared to its average volume of 329,178. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 1.25. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $161.11 and a one year high of $242.65. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $191.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $196.49. The company has a market capitalization of $10.44 billion, a PE ratio of 22.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last announced 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. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.63% and a return on equity of 40.19%. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.94 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.