Wellington Management Group LLP Sells 193,011 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Wellington Management Group LLP decreased its holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 77.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 54,905 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 193,011 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned approximately 0.10% of Lincoln Electric worth $10,293,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter worth $307,344,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter valued at $92,117,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 234,515 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its position in Lincoln Electric by 121.7% in the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 268,229 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $50,284,000 after purchasing an additional 147,239 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position 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 valued at $218,050,000 after purchasing an additional 65,154 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company's stock.

Remove Ads

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on LECO shares. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. KeyCorp raised their price target on Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $233.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lincoln Electric news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the company'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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 54,660 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,777,590.20. This represents a 27.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company's stock.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of LECO stock traded up $4.21 on Friday, hitting $181.13. The stock had a trading volume of 226,675 shares, compared to its average volume of 328,371. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $194.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $197.29. 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 firm has a market cap of $10.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.22, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $161.11 and a twelve month high of $243.04.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.54. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 11.63%. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.94 million. As a group, analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio is 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.