State of Alaska Department of Revenue Has $5.66 Million Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

State of Alaska Department of Revenue lessened its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 1.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,285 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 340 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $5,655,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 16.2% during the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,351,223 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $255,597,000 after acquiring an additional 188,104 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 51.2% during the first quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 405,559 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $76,715,000 after acquiring an additional 137,330 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 2.1% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 365,987 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $69,230,000 after acquiring an additional 7,656 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 8.9% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 362,561 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $68,582,000 after acquiring an additional 29,505 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 0.6% during the first quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 330,822 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $62,578,000 after acquiring an additional 2,079 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on LECO. Roth Capital began coverage on Lincoln Electric in a research note on Friday, September 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $279.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.23, for a total value of $233,230.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 9,177 shares in the company, valued at $2,140,351.71. This represents a 9.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jennifer I. Ansberry sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.18, for a total value of $726,540.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 19,173 shares in the company, valued at $4,643,317.14. The trade was a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 23,692 shares of company stock valued at $5,745,148. Insiders own 2.41% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Lincoln Electric stock opened at $236.72 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $238.20 and a 200-day moving average of $210.31. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $161.11 and a 1 year high of $249.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The company has a market capitalization of $13.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.22.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.32 by $0.28. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.79% and a net margin of 12.27%.The business had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.34 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.71%.

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.