International Assets Investment Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

International Assets Investment Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 99.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,645 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 256,622 shares during the quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC's holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $304,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in Lincoln Electric by 97.9% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 283 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 308.5% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 335 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. HM Payson & Co. acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the third quarter worth $65,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 60.2% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 423 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LECO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $195.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $230.75.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Lincoln Electric stock traded up $5.94 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $186.45. 366,580 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 268,183. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $202.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $195.87. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.51 and a 12-month high of $261.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.85. The stock has a market cap of $10.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.18.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.09. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.03% and a net margin of 11.93%. The firm 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 business earned $2.40 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.74 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The business 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. This is a positive change from Lincoln Electric's previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio is presently 35.80%.

Lincoln Electric 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.