JPMorgan Chase & Co. Sells 259,779 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Key Points

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. has reduced its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings by 15.0%, selling 259,779 shares and now owning 1,475,748 shares worth approximately $279 million.
• Lincoln Electric recently reported earnings of $2.60 per share, exceeding analyst expectations, with quarterly revenue increasing by 6.6% year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.75 per share, which translates to an annualized yield of 1.2% based on current stock prices.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 15.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,475,748 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 259,779 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 2.64% of Lincoln Electric worth $279,153,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter worth about $68,000. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 77.1% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 425 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 12.2% during the first quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 553 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $105,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Curat Global LLC acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric during the first quarter valued at approximately $110,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 36.1% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 600 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $113,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $231.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lincoln Electric news, EVP Jennifer I. Ansberry sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 directly owned 19,173 shares in the company, valued at $4,643,317.14. This represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Gabriel Bruno sold 7,305 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was 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 $7,254,903.34. This represents a 19.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company's stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 2.6%

Shares of NASDAQ LECO traded down $6.34 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $237.27. The stock had a trading volume of 290,841 shares, compared to its average volume of 366,393. The company has a market capitalization of $13.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.68. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $220.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $202.00. 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 data on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.32 by $0.28. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.79% and a net margin of 12.27%. The company had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.34 earnings per share. Lincoln Electric's revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

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