Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC Sells 5,044 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC decreased its position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 44.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 6,275 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 5,044 shares during the quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $1,176,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,601,734 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,050,157,000 after purchasing an additional 18,805 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Lincoln Electric by 12.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,462,232 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $474,527,000 after buying an additional 280,466 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 5.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,204,549 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $231,345,000 after buying an additional 61,640 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 65,154 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 555,836 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $104,203,000 after acquiring an additional 13,134 shares during the period. 79.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Remove Ads

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays lifted their price target 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. KeyCorp raised their price target on Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $233.60.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

NASDAQ LECO traded down $4.57 on Friday, reaching $190.29. The company had a trading volume of 277,097 shares, compared to its average volume of 322,679. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $198.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $197.71. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.51 and a 12 month high of $255.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.66 billion, a PE ratio of 23.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

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

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.81%.

Insider Activity 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,660 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,777,590.20. The trade was a 27.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 2.63% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Lincoln Electric Company 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.