Amalgamated Bank Sells 537 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Amalgamated Bank lowered its position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 25,667 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 537 shares during the quarter. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $5,321,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LECO. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 6.6% in the first quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 19,767 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,739,000 after acquiring an additional 1,231 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 0.6% in the first quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 11,541 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,183,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 16.0% in the first quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,194 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $415,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Lincoln Electric by 27.1% during the first quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 33,359 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,310,000 after buying an additional 7,113 shares during the period. Finally, Crew Capital Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 5.5% during the first quarter. Crew Capital Management Ltd. now owns 3,456 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $654,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In other Lincoln Electric news, EVP Gabriel Bruno sold 7,305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.42, for a total transaction of $1,770,878.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 29,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,254,903.34. This represents a 19.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 12,387 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.36, for a total transaction of $3,014,500.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 55,866 shares in the company, valued at $13,595,549.76. The trade was a 18.15% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 23,692 shares of company stock worth $5,745,148. 2.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on LECO. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 11th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $247.00.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Lincoln Electric stock opened at $234.45 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $238.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $219.23. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $161.11 and a twelve month high of $249.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The company has a market cap of $12.94 billion, a PE ratio of 26.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.20.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.05 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 39.79%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.14 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

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

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.