Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Stock Holdings Reduced by Stifel Financial Corp

Stifel Financial Corp decreased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 3.2% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 400,269 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 13,169 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $76,859,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 97.9% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 283 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its position in Lincoln Electric by 41.5% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 308.5% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 335 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the period. Finally, Gladius Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the second quarter valued at about $65,000. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $220.00.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of LECO opened at $209.92 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.05, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.16. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $203.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $195.97. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.51 and a twelve month high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $983.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $988.07 million. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.93% and a return on equity of 40.03%. Lincoln Electric’s revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.40 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.75 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 Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.43%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.89%.

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.