Swiss National Bank Sells 2,400 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Swiss National Bank lowered its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 2.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 107,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 2,400 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned 0.19% of Lincoln Electric worth $22,183,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LECO. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Lincoln Electric by 980.8% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 281 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 279.6% in the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 353 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC increased its position in Lincoln Electric by 619.3% during the second quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 410 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 353 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 132.9% in the 2nd quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 708 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $147,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kaufman Rossin Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the 2nd quarter valued at about $206,000. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 12,387 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.36, for a total transaction of $3,014,500.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 55,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,595,549.76. This trade represents a 18.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.23, for a total value of $233,230.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 9,177 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,140,351.71. The trade was a 9.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LECO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Roth Capital set a $285.00 price target on Lincoln Electric and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Wall Street Zen downgraded Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $247.00.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 2.5%

NASDAQ LECO opened at $237.74 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $233.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $225.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.08 billion, a PE ratio of 26.71, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.24. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $161.11 and a fifty-two week 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.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.05 billion. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.79% and a net margin of 12.27%.Lincoln Electric’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.14 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be given a $0.79 dividend. This is an increase from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.83%.

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.