Carnegie Investment Counsel Sells 13,193 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Carnegie Investment Counsel decreased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 39.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,139 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 13,193 shares during the period. Carnegie Investment Counsel’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $4,175,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of LECO. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 16.2% during the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,351,223 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $255,597,000 after acquiring an additional 188,104 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric during the 1st quarter worth $28,548,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 195.2% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 223,025 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $42,187,000 after acquiring an additional 147,483 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 24.4% during the 2nd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 504,479 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $104,589,000 after acquiring an additional 98,920 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 576.6% during the 1st quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 78,840 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $14,913,000 after acquiring an additional 67,187 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LECO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 11th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Roth Capital began coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Friday, September 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $279.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $243.50.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 0.2%

LECO opened at $241.81 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $238.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $216.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.68. The firm has a market cap of $13.35 billion, a PE ratio of 27.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.20. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $161.11 and a twelve month high of $249.19.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.32 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 39.79%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.34 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.71%.

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In related news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 12,387 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.36, for a total value of $3,014,500.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,595,549.76. This represents a 18.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Gabriel Bruno sold 7,305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.42, for a total transaction of $1,770,878.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 29,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,254,903.34. The trade was a 19.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,692 shares of company stock valued at $5,745,148 in the last quarter. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.