Mutual of America Capital Management LLC Sells 1,277 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Mutual of America Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 4.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,763 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,277 shares during the quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $5,756,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LECO. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Lincoln Electric by 16.2% during the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,351,223 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $255,597,000 after purchasing an additional 188,104 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,548,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 195.2% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 223,025 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $42,187,000 after acquiring an additional 147,483 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 24.4% in the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 504,479 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $104,589,000 after acquiring an additional 98,920 shares during the period. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 576.6% in the first quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 78,840 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $14,913,000 after acquiring an additional 67,187 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on LECO. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Roth Capital started coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research report on Friday, September 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $279.00 price objective for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $243.50.

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In related news, EVP Jennifer I. Ansberry sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.18, for a total value of $726,540.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 19,173 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,643,317.14. This trade represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gabriel Bruno sold 7,305 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.42, for a total transaction of $1,770,878.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 29,927 shares in the company, valued at $7,254,903.34. This trade represents a 19.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 23,692 shares of company stock valued at $5,745,148. Company insiders own 2.41% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of LECO opened at $242.95 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $239.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $215.48. The company has a market capitalization of $13.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.20. 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 Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $161.11 and a 1-year high of $249.19.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.32 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 39.79%. Lincoln Electric’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.34 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.79 dividend. This is an increase from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is 33.71%.

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.