Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Shares Sold by Wellington Management Group LLP

Wellington Management Group LLP lowered its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 17.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 247,916 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 53,817 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned about 0.44% of Lincoln Electric worth $47,605,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 48.0% during the 2nd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,747,083 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $518,210,000 after acquiring an additional 891,111 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,462,232 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $474,527,000 after acquiring an additional 280,466 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 81.9% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,097,965 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $210,831,000 after acquiring an additional 494,464 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 7.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 525,647 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $99,155,000 after acquiring an additional 38,206 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 18,413.8% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 258,267 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $49,592,000 after acquiring an additional 256,872 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ LECO traded up $0.31 on Thursday, reaching $209.39. The company had a trading volume of 144,158 shares, compared to its average volume of 313,963. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.82 billion, a PE ratio of 24.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.16. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.51 and a 1 year high of $261.13. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $204.17 and a 200-day moving average of $195.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.20.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 analysts' expectations of $988.07 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.40 EPS. Lincoln Electric's quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.75 EPS 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. This is a positive change from Lincoln Electric's previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.