Insider Selling: Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) CEO Sells $4,536,505.38 in Stock

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,777,590.20. The trade was a 27.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Lincoln Electric stock opened at $207.27 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The company has a market capitalization of $11.70 billion, a PE ratio of 25.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $194.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $196.40. 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, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $995.94 million. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.63% and a return on equity of 40.19%. Research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is 36.81%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,601,734 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,050,157,000 after acquiring an additional 18,805 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 12.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,462,232 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $474,527,000 after buying an additional 280,466 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,735,527 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $325,359,000 after buying an additional 234,515 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter valued at about $307,344,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,235,582 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $231,691,000 after buying an additional 31,033 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $233.60.

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.