Benjamin Edwards Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. trimmed its position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 14.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,075 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 180 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $202,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LECO. Mizuho Bank Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 255.1% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 174 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 54.1% in the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 299 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 37.5% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 389 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 106 shares during the period. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter worth about $76,000. 79.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays lifted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $178.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $216.17.

Insider Transactions 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 transaction of $4,536,505.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,777,590.20. This represents a 27.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LECO opened at $185.87 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $10.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.81, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $161.11 and a 1 year high of $238.47. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $185.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $195.56. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.22 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $365.45 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $974.39 million. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 11.63%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.23 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.61%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.99%.

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.