Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Has $2.31 Million Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC decreased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,337 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 191 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $2,313,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 255.1% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 174 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 54.1% in the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 299 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 37.5% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 389 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the period. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter worth $76,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 28.7% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 431 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on LECO. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com raised Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $233.60.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of LECO stock opened at $192.22 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $10.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $198.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $198.05. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $169.51 and a one year high of $253.41.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.54. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.63% and a return on equity of 40.19%. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.94 million. Analysts predict that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is presently 36.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lincoln Electric news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,660 shares in the company, valued at $11,777,590.20. This represents a 27.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 2.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Lincoln Electric Company 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.