Millennium Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Millennium Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 27.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 75,542 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 28,458 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC owned 0.13% of Lincoln Electric worth $14,162,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 28.7% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter worth $496,000. US Bancorp DE boosted 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 buying an additional 252 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted 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 buying an additional 2,088 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 255.1% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 174 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $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 analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $178.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $206.40.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ LECO traded down $2.03 on Wednesday, reaching $194.24. 13,237 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 329,354. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $161.11 and a 12 month high of $222.52. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $186.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $195.09. The company has a market cap of $10.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. 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 (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last announced 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 net margin of 11.63% and a return on equity of 40.19%. The business had revenue of $365.45 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $974.39 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.23 EPS. Lincoln Electric's revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio is 36.99%.

Lincoln Electric Company 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.