Commerce Bank Trims Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Commerce Bank lessened its holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 7.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,261 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 1,145 shares during the period. Commerce Bank's holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $2,887,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $68,000. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 77.1% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 425 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $80,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 22.2% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 517 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $97,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 12.2% in the 1st 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. Finally, Curat Global LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the first quarter valued at approximately $110,000. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of LECO traded down $1.65 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $240.28. 89,291 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 352,094. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $161.11 and a 12 month high of $246.83. The company has a market capitalization of $13.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.21. The company's fifty day moving average price is $214.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $199.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $1.09 billion during 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.34 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. Lincoln Electric's dividend 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.