Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Position Lowered by Marietta Investment Partners LLC

Marietta Investment Partners LLC decreased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,296 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 400 shares during the period. Marietta Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $1,368,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 12.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,462,232 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $474,527,000 after acquiring an additional 280,466 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 5.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,204,549 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $231,345,000 after acquiring an additional 61,640 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,163,119 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $218,050,000 after acquiring an additional 65,154 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 555,836 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $104,203,000 after acquiring an additional 13,134 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 505,701 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $94,804,000 after acquiring an additional 23,327 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LECO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $233.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lincoln Electric news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total value of $4,536,505.38. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 54,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,777,590.20. This represents a 27.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LECO opened at $192.02 on Friday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.51 and a 12 month high of $258.99. The stock has a market cap of $10.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.56, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $198.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $196.92. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.54. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 11.63%. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $995.94 million. Equities research 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.56%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is 36.81%.

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.