Invesco Ltd. Sells 256,702 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Invesco Ltd. trimmed its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 22.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 878,839 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 256,702 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned 1.57% of Lincoln Electric worth $166,241,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of LECO. Champlain Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter valued at $110,062,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 15,932.5% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 336,682 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $63,118,000 after purchasing an additional 334,582 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 22,146.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 291,874 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $55,211,000 after purchasing an additional 290,562 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 188,104 shares during the period. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its holdings 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 during the period. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Lincoln Electric from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. KeyCorp raised their target price on Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $231.40.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

NASDAQ:LECO opened at $243.61 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $219.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $201.68. The stock has a market cap of $13.44 billion, a PE ratio of 27.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.21. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $161.11 and a 52 week high of $246.83.

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

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.71%.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In other news, EVP Jennifer I. Ansberry sold 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.18, for a total transaction of $726,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 19,173 shares in the company, valued at $4,643,317.14. This trade represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Gabriel Bruno sold 7,305 shares of the firm'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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 29,927 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,254,903.34. The trade was a 19.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company's stock.

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.

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