California Public Employees Retirement System Trims Stock Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

California Public Employees Retirement System trimmed its holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 6.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 98,690 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 6,587 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $18,501,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 1.9% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 11,034 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,134,000 after buying an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Lincoln Electric by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,046 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $969,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $241,000. Hilltop Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 48.0% during the 3rd quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 1,795 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $345,000 after purchasing an additional 582 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 199,020 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $38,213,000 after purchasing an additional 15,745 shares during the period. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of Lincoln Electric stock opened at $172.02 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.11, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $197.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $197.81. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $168.29 and a 12 month high of $250.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 1.25.

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

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.74%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Barclays upped their price target on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, 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 report on Friday, January 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $233.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln Electric

In other news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total value of $4,536,505.38. Following the completion of the sale, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 2.63% of the stock is owned by 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.