Man Group plc Lowers Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Man Group plc decreased its holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 42.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 37,221 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 26,958 shares during the quarter. Man Group plc’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $6,978,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,601,734 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,050,157,000 after buying an additional 18,805 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,735,527 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $325,359,000 after buying an additional 234,515 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter valued at about $307,344,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,235,582 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $231,691,000 after purchasing an additional 31,033 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,163,119 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $218,050,000 after purchasing an additional 65,154 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln Electric

In other Lincoln Electric news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total value of $4,536,505.38. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,777,590.20. This represents a 27.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LECO. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $178.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their target price on Lincoln Electric from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $216.17.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 0.8%

NASDAQ LECO opened at $201.45 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $11.25 billion, a PE ratio of 24.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $161.11 and a fifty-two week high of $229.00. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $185.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $195.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $365.45 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $974.39 million. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 11.63%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.23 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.99%.

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.