Handelsbanken Fonder AB Lowers Stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lessened its holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,516 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $3,009,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 1.7% in the first quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT now owns 3,208 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $607,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,354 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $695,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,101 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $397,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its position in Lincoln Electric by 3.6% during the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 3,157 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $655,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the period. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA raised its position in Lincoln Electric by 7.6% during the second quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 1,855 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $385,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Zacks Research cut Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $247.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.23, for a total value of $233,230.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 9,177 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,140,351.71. This represents a 9.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 12,387 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.36, for a total transaction of $3,014,500.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 55,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,595,549.76. The trade was a 18.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 2.5%

LECO opened at $237.74 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $233.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $225.12. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $161.11 and a 1-year high of $249.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.08.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.08. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.79% and a net margin of 12.27%.The business had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.14 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. This is a boost from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is presently 33.83%.

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.