Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Shares Sold by Skylands Capital LLC

Skylands Capital LLC reduced its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 19,355 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 700 shares during the quarter. Skylands Capital LLC’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $3,628,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 806 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $151,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter worth $1,539,000. Wealthspire Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter worth $264,000. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 64,819 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $12,152,000 after buying an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 6,153 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,154,000 after buying an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LECO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $233.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were 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 owns 54,660 shares of the company’s stock, 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 SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 2.1 %

Lincoln Electric stock opened at $207.27 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $194.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $196.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.87. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $169.51 and a one year high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly 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 analyst estimates of $995.94 million. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.63% and a return on equity of 40.19%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

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

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.