Amalgamated Bank Has $5.07 Million Stock Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Amalgamated Bank decreased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 27,018 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 605 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $5,065,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of LECO. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 81.9% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,097,965 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $210,831,000 after purchasing an additional 494,464 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 12.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,462,232 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $474,527,000 after buying an additional 280,466 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its position in Lincoln Electric by 121.7% during the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 268,229 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $50,284,000 after acquiring an additional 147,239 shares in the last quarter. Absher Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the third quarter valued at approximately $24,604,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 5.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,204,549 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $231,345,000 after acquiring an additional 61,640 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 transaction of $4,536,505.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 54,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,777,590.20. This represents a 27.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 1.2 %

Lincoln Electric stock opened at $205.28 on Friday. 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 Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.51 and a fifty-two week high of $261.13. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $195.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $196.79. The firm has a market cap of $11.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced 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. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.94 million. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 11.63%. As a group, analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.46%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is 36.81%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Lincoln Electric 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.