Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Reduces Stock Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. decreased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 6.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 28,983 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 2,153 shares during the quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. owned about 0.05% of Lincoln Electric worth $5,498,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 21,199 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $3,974,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its position in Lincoln Electric by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 806 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $151,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 2.6% in the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 2,541 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $481,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,644 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $871,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, AXQ Capital LP lifted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. AXQ Capital LP now owns 2,870 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $538,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LECO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $178.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. 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 research note on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. 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 report on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $206.40.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Lincoln Electric stock traded up $2.69 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $212.91. 233,573 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 319,835. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.78. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $161.11 and a one year high of $222.52. The stock has a market cap of $11.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $195.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $193.41.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.22 by ($0.06). Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.44% and a return on equity of 39.44%. The company had revenue of $365.45 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $974.39 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.23 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.41%. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio is currently 36.99%.

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.