Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Shares Sold by Trillium Asset Management LLC

Trillium Asset Management LLC cut its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 36,904 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,559 shares during the period. Trillium Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $6,919,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of LECO. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 3rd quarter valued at $385,000. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,473 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $283,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,646 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $316,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 174.4% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 40,242 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,727,000 after purchasing an additional 25,578 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,029 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $390,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LECO has been the subject of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com raised Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $233.60.

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In related news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 54,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,777,590.20. This trade represents a 27.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of Lincoln Electric stock opened at $194.38 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $10.90 billion, a PE ratio of 23.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $197.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $196.95. 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 Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.51 and a 12 month high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.54. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $995.94 million. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 11.63%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.81%.

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.