Twinbeech Capital LP Sells 604 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Twinbeech Capital LP cut its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 36,684 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 604 shares during the period. Twinbeech Capital LP’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $6,877,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 28.7% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 431 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter valued at $496,000. US Bancorp DE increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 5,262 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $986,000 after buying an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 358,331 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $67,176,000 after buying an additional 2,088 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 255.1% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 174 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of LECO stock opened at $201.45 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $185.56 and a 200 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. The firm has a market cap of $11.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.72, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $161.11 and a 12 month high of $229.00.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by ($0.06). Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 11.63%. The company had revenue of $365.45 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $974.39 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.23 EPS. Lincoln Electric’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. 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 (DPR) is currently 36.99%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lincoln Electric news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total transaction of $4,536,505.38. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 54,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,777,590.20. This trade represents a 27.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LECO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Lincoln Electric from $178.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays lifted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $216.17.

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.