Captrust Financial Advisors Sells 3,140 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Captrust Financial Advisors lowered its position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 32.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,481 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 3,140 shares during the quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors' holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $1,215,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mizuho Bank Ltd. purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 255.1% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 174 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 54.1% in the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 299 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in Lincoln Electric by 37.5% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 389 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 106 shares during the period. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter valued at about $76,000. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln Electric

In other Lincoln Electric news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total transaction of $4,536,505.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 54,660 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,777,590.20. This trade represents a 27.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 2.63% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on LECO. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $178.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $216.17.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 0.5%

LECO stock traded up $1.07 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $202.52. The company had a trading volume of 37,028 shares, compared to its average volume of 333,388. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $161.11 and a 52 week high of $229.00. The company has a market cap of $11.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.89, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a 50 day moving average of $185.56 and a 200 day moving average of $195.63. 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 - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.22 by ($0.06). Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 11.63%. The company had revenue of $365.45 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $974.39 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.23 earnings per share. Lincoln Electric's quarterly revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio is 36.99%.

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.