California Public Employees Retirement System Decreases Stock Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

California Public Employees Retirement System cut its holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 109,503 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 3,271 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.19% of Lincoln Electric worth $23,813,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LECO. Fiera Capital Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 3rd quarter worth about $34,850,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,049,854 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $190,853,000 after purchasing an additional 174,278 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Group LLC acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,396,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 411.9% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 191,740 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $34,856,000 after purchasing an additional 154,286 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dana Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at about $21,929,000. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on LECO. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $241.00 to $238.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $257.00 to $252.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $232.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Monday, January 8th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $178.00 price objective for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $221.86.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 0.9 %

LECO opened at $229.94 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $248.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $220.22. The company has a market cap of $13.07 billion, a PE ratio of 24.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.20. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.80 and a 1 year high of $261.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.24.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $981.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 13.23% and a return on equity of 43.81%. The company’s revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.13 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total value of $834,202.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,308,819.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total value of $834,202.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,308,819.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total value of $3,178,719.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 22,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,554,575.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.