Eagle Asset Management Inc. Sells 28,511 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Eagle Asset Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 5.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 472,963 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 28,511 shares during the quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. owned approximately 0.84% of Lincoln Electric worth $90,818,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of LECO. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 174.4% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 107 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the second quarter worth $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 97.9% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 283 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 41.5% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 308.5% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 335 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

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 value of $193,556.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,966,880.88. This represents a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LECO opened at $208.51 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $196.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $197.07. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.51 and a 1-year high of $261.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $983.76 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $988.07 million. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.93% and a return on equity of 40.03%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.40 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is an increase from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.44%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is presently 33.89%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on LECO. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $220.00.

Lincoln Electric Company 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.