Morton Community Bank Sells 710 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Morton Community Bank trimmed its holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 3.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 19,217 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 710 shares during the period. Morton Community Bank’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $3,690,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jane Street Group LLC raised its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 52.1% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 26,764 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,837,000 after buying an additional 9,164 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the 1st quarter valued at $385,000. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 202.8% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 31,221 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,975,000 after buying an additional 20,911 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 11.7% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 16,800 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,291,000 after buying an additional 1,765 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 174.4% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 107 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ:LECO opened at $218.48 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $12.33 billion, a PE ratio of 26.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.14. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $200.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $196.48. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.51 and a 1-year high of $261.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.20.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $983.76 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $988.07 million. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.93% and a return on equity of 40.03%. Lincoln Electric’s revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.40 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This is a boost from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is presently 33.89%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on LECO. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $220.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total transaction of $193,556.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,178 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,966,880.88. This represents a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.