New York State Common Retirement Fund Trims Stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 130,568 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 5,330 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.23% of Lincoln Electric worth $28,393,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,049,854 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $190,853,000 after acquiring an additional 174,278 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 721,598 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $131,179,000 after acquiring an additional 58,695 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 10.4% during the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 619,974 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $112,705,000 after acquiring an additional 58,254 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 473,234 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $86,029,000 after acquiring an additional 2,326 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 361,637 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $78,642,000 after acquiring an additional 8,223 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LECO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Lincoln Electric in a research report on Monday, January 8th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $178.00 target price on the stock. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $232.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Lincoln Electric from $239.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $210.50.

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In other news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total transaction of $3,178,719.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 22,402 shares in the company, valued at $5,554,575.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 9,150 shares in the company, valued at $2,308,819.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction dated 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 $5,554,575.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.63% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 4.1 %

Shares of LECO opened at $227.93 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $249.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $219.38. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $155.21 and a twelve month high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The industrial products company reported $2.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 45.09% and a net margin of 13.01%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.94 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business 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 $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.31%.

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.