Gotham Asset Management LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Key Points

• Gotham Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings by 10% in Q1, now holding approximately 113,666 shares valued at $21.5 million.
• Lincoln Electric recently reported earnings per share of $2.60 for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations and marking a 6.6% increase in revenue year-over-year.
• The company has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.75, leading to an annualized dividend of $3.00, which corresponds to a 1.2% dividend yield.

Gotham Asset Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 10.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 113,666 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 12,677 shares during the quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC owned 0.20% of Lincoln Electric worth $21,501,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 16.2% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,351,223 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $255,597,000 after acquiring an additional 188,104 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 51.2% in the 1st quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 405,559 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $76,715,000 after purchasing an additional 137,330 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 393,783 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $73,823,000 after purchasing an additional 21,166 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 365,987 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $69,230,000 after acquiring an additional 7,656 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 330,822 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $62,578,000 after acquiring an additional 2,079 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on LECO shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Roth Capital initiated coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Friday. They set a "buy" rating and a $279.00 price objective for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $239.33.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In other Lincoln Electric news, EVP Gabriel Bruno sold 7,305 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.42, for a total value of $1,770,878.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 29,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,254,903.34. The trade was a 19.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jennifer I. Ansberry sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.18, for a total value of $726,540.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 19,173 shares in the company, valued at $4,643,317.14. The trade was a 13.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.63% of the company's stock.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of LECO traded down $4.32 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $238.92. 247,405 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 341,582. The firm has a market cap of $13.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.84, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.22. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $161.11 and a 12-month high of $249.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $232.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $206.57.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.32 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 39.79%. The business's revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.34 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Lincoln Electric's payout ratio is currently 33.71%.

About Lincoln Electric

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.