Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Sells 2,153 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lessened its holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 6.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 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 period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. owned approximately 0.05% of Lincoln Electric worth $5,498,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.3% in 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 last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 806 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $151,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its position 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 worth $481,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its stake 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 worth $871,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AXQ Capital LP increased its stake 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 worth $538,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on LECO shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target 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 lowered their price target on Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp cut their price objective 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $206.40.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of LECO stock traded down $2.02 on Monday, reaching $206.50. 22,388 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 317,835. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $194.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $193.27. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $161.11 and a 52 week high of $222.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.53 billion, a PE ratio of 25.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.20.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.22 by ($0.06). Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.44% and a net margin of 11.44%. The business had revenue of $365.45 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $974.39 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.23 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.