Commerce Bank Sells 3,715 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Commerce Bank lessened its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 18.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,406 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 3,715 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank's holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $3,076,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,601,734 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,050,157,000 after acquiring an additional 18,805 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,735,527 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $325,359,000 after purchasing an additional 234,515 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter valued at about $307,344,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,235,582 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $231,691,000 after buying an additional 31,033 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Lincoln Electric by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,163,119 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $218,050,000 after acquiring an additional 65,154 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LECO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $187.00 to $179.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $178.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $219.00.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ:LECO traded down $0.58 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $185.76. 237,051 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 327,227. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.79, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $190.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $196.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $161.11 and a fifty-two week high of $238.47.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.54. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.94 million. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 11.63%. As a group, research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio is currently 36.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln Electric

In related news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total value of $4,536,505.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,660 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,777,590.20. This represents a 27.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.