FORA Capital LLC Sells 6,272 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

FORA Capital LLC lowered its position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 51.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,005 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 6,272 shares during the period. FORA Capital LLC's holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $1,153,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Avior Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 3.0% during the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,644 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $316,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,646 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $316,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its position in Lincoln Electric by 4.8% in the third quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 1,303 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Lincoln Electric by 174.4% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 107 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 2,366 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $454,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln Electric from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $220.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total value of $193,556.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,178 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,966,880.88. The trade was a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company's stock.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 0.2 %

Lincoln Electric stock traded up $0.48 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $216.62. The company's stock had a trading volume of 152,077 shares, compared to its average volume of 316,730. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $169.51 and a one year high of $261.13. The stock has a market cap of $12.22 billion, a PE ratio of 25.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50 day moving average of $199.53 and a 200-day moving average of $196.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.85.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $983.76 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $988.07 million. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.93% and a return on equity of 40.03%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.40 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.75 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Lincoln Electric's previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. Lincoln Electric's payout ratio is 33.89%.

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.