Voloridge Investment Management LLC Sells 82,899 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Voloridge Investment Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 32.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 172,780 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 82,899 shares during the quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC owned 0.31% of Lincoln Electric worth $32,391,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 28.7% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 431 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $83,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $496,000. US Bancorp DE lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 5,262 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $986,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 358,331 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $67,176,000 after purchasing an additional 2,088 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 255.1% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 174 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $178.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $206.40.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

LECO traded up $3.25 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $194.77. The company's stock had a trading volume of 62,260 shares, compared to its average volume of 329,491. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $161.11 and a one year high of $222.52. The firm has a market cap of $10.87 billion, a PE ratio of 23.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $185.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $195.08.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.22 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $365.45 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $974.39 million. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.63% and a return on equity of 40.19%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.23 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. Lincoln Electric's 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.