Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Shares Sold by Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky reduced its position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,302 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 500 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $3,514,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LECO. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 97.9% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 283 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 41.5% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 308.5% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 335 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. HM Payson & Co. purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the third quarter valued at $65,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 60.2% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 423 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $195.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com raised Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.17.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 1.8 %

Lincoln Electric stock opened at $203.80 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.85. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.51 and a 1 year high of $261.13. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $204.78 and its 200-day moving average is $195.77. The company has a market cap of $11.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.32, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.16.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $983.76 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $988.07 million. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.03% and a net margin of 11.93%. Lincoln Electric’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $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 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 $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. 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 1.47%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.89%.

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.