Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) EVP Jennifer I. Ansberry Sells 3,000 Shares

Key Points

• Jennifer I. Ansberry, Executive Vice President of Lincoln Electric, sold 3,000 shares on August 12 for a total of $726,540, reducing her stake by 13.53% to 19,173 shares.
• Lincoln Electric reported a quarterly EPS of $2.60, exceeding analyst expectations of $2.32, with a revenue increase of 6.6% year-over-year to $1.09 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.75 per share, with a dividend yield of 1.2%, payable on October 15th to shareholders on record as of September 30th.

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) EVP Jennifer I. Ansberry sold 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.18, for a total transaction of $726,540.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 19,173 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,643,317.14. This trade represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 2.6%

Shares of LECO stock traded down $6.34 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $237.27. The company's stock had a trading volume of 290,841 shares, compared to its average volume of 366,393. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $161.11 and a 52 week high of $246.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.68. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $220.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $202.00. The company has a market cap of $13.09 billion, a PE ratio of 26.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.21.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.32 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.79% and a net margin of 12.27%. The company's revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.34 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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 Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio is currently 33.71%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LECO. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 2nd quarter worth about $354,063,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,558,783 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $323,167,000 after acquiring an additional 83,035 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 16.2% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,351,223 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $255,597,000 after acquiring an additional 188,104 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 726,112 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $136,124,000 after acquiring an additional 75,651 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 2nd quarter worth about $141,550,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on LECO shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target 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. Robert W. Baird decreased 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 note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $231.40.

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.