CNB Bank Has $320,000 Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

CNB Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 20.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,471 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 254 shares during the quarter. CNB Bank’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $320,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 1.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,954,544 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $748,605,000 after buying an additional 63,007 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.3% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,289,641 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $894,478,000 after buying an additional 15,200 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,958,667 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $373,594,000 after buying an additional 59,991 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 19.9% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,049,854 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $190,853,000 after buying an additional 174,278 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Macquarie Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 55.9% during the first quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 744,444 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $125,885,000 after buying an additional 266,838 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LECO has been the subject of a number of research reports. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $232.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Lincoln Electric in a research note on Monday, January 8th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $178.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Lincoln Electric from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Lincoln Electric from $239.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $210.50.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LECO traded down $0.57 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $238.36. 214,625 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 227,340. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $155.21 and a 12 month high of $261.13. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $248.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $217.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.55 billion, a PE ratio of 25.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.20.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The industrial products company reported $2.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.26. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 45.09% and a net margin of 13.01%. The company had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is currently 30.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.