Bank of New Hampshire Sells 277 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Bank of New Hampshire lowered its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 18,267 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 277 shares during the quarter. Lincoln Electric comprises approximately 1.1% of Bank of New Hampshire’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Bank of New Hampshire’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $3,972,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 43.1% during the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 166 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 81.1% during the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 172 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 46.9% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 188 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 151.6% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 239 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total transaction of $834,202.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,150 shares in the company, valued at $2,308,819.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Lincoln Electric news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total transaction of $3,178,719.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 22,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,554,575.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total value of $834,202.98. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,308,819.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on LECO. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Lincoln Electric from $257.00 to $252.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Lincoln Electric from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Lincoln Electric from $241.00 to $238.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Lincoln Electric in a report on Monday, January 8th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $178.00 target price on the stock. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on Lincoln Electric from $232.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $216.63.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of LECO traded up $1.00 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $228.93. The stock had a trading volume of 141,398 shares, compared to its average volume of 279,379. The firm has a market cap of $13.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.45, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $249.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $219.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 1.50. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $156.80 and a 52 week high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $981.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 45.09% and a net margin of 13.01%. The business’s revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.13 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is 30.31%.

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.