Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Holdings Decreased by GW&K Investment Management LLC

GW&K Investment Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 0.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 221,251 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 843 shares during the period. GW&K Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.39% of Lincoln Electric worth $41,852,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of LECO. Mizuho Bank Ltd. acquired a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter worth $68,000. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 77.1% in the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 425 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $80,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 22.2% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 517 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $97,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares during the period. Finally, YANKCOM Partnership increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 12.2% during the 1st quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 553 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $105,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on LECO shares. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $180.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $222.60.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LECO opened at $221.98 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.78. The stock has a market cap of $12.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.37, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.20. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $161.11 and a fifty-two week high of $225.25. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $205.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $196.05.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by ($0.06). The business 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 39.44% and a net margin of 11.44%. Lincoln Electric’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.23 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 30th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.35%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.99%.

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.