Voloridge Investment Management LLC Sells 82,899 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Voloridge Investment Management LLC lowered its position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 32.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 172,780 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 82,899 shares during the period. Voloridge Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $32,391,000 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. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,601,734 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,050,157,000 after purchasing an additional 18,805 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,735,527 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $325,359,000 after purchasing an additional 234,515 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter worth $307,344,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Lincoln Electric by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,235,582 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $231,691,000 after buying an additional 31,033 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,163,119 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $218,050,000 after buying an additional 65,154 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LECO opened at $194.37 on Thursday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $161.11 and a 12 month high of $229.00. The company has a market cap of $10.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The business’s 50 day moving average is $185.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $195.66. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.22 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $365.45 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $974.39 million. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 11.63%. The company’s revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.23 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is 36.99%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on LECO shares. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target 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. Barclays upped their target price 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 dropped their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $178.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $216.17.

Lincoln Electric 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.