Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Cuts Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lowered its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 434,650 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 28,480 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned about 0.77% of Lincoln Electric worth $83,462,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of LECO. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 65.7% in the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 1,697 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $434,000 after purchasing an additional 673 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 62.7% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 65,079 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $16,442,000 after purchasing an additional 25,082 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 0.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,709,315 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,458,387,000 after purchasing an additional 15,062 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 8.2% in the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 2,471 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $631,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the period. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 9.6% in the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 4,034 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,030,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares during the period. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of LECO traded up $0.97 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $207.07. The company's stock had a trading volume of 248,877 shares, compared to its average volume of 317,972. The company has a market cap of $11.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.71, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.14. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $195.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $197.08. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.51 and a 52-week high of $261.13.

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

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This is an increase from Lincoln Electric's previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.89%.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In related news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total transaction of $193,556.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,178 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,966,880.88. The trade was a 8.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LECO has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Lincoln Electric from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $220.00.

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.