Franklin Resources Inc. Sells 25,327 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Franklin Resources Inc. cut its holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 40.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,431 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 25,327 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 0.07% of Lincoln Electric worth $7,246,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 worth $316,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 1,303 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $250,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust increased its position in Lincoln Electric by 3.1% in 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. Finally, Quarry LP raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 41.5% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 300 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on LECO shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $195.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $225.17.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ LECO traded down $0.19 during trading on Monday, hitting $189.56. The stock had a trading volume of 336,637 shares, compared to its average volume of 317,775. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $205.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $195.82. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.51 and a 12 month high of $261.13. The company has a market capitalization of $10.70 billion, a PE ratio of 22.62, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.16.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.09. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.93% and a return on equity of 40.03%. The business had revenue of $983.76 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $988.07 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.40 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. 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 1.58%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.80%.

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.