Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO Shares Sold by Arjuna Capital

Arjuna Capital trimmed its position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 6,351 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 313 shares during the quarter. Arjuna Capital’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $1,317,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $354,063,000. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the second quarter worth $141,550,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the first quarter worth $28,548,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 195.2% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 223,025 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $42,187,000 after purchasing an additional 147,483 shares during the period. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 24.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 98,920 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln Electric

In other news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,000 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.23, for a total value of $233,230.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 9,177 shares in the company, valued at $2,140,351.71. This trade represents a 9.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 12,387 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.36, for a total transaction of $3,014,500.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,595,549.76. This represents a 18.15% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on LECO shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research lowered Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Roth Capital set a $285.00 target price on shares of Lincoln Electric and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $247.00.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of LECO opened at $236.81 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $13.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.61, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.24. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $161.11 and a 12 month high of $249.19. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $233.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $226.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.08. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.79% and a net margin of 12.27%.The business had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.14 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.79 per share. This is a boost 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 is Wednesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.83%.

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.