Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 879,900 shares, a decrease of 8.7% from the April 15th total of 964,100 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 292,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.0 days. Approximately 1.6% of the company's stock are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LECO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $241.00 to $238.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $257.00 to $252.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th. KeyCorp increased their target price on Lincoln Electric from $232.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $228.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lincoln Electric news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total transaction of $3,178,719.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 22,402 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,554,575.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Lincoln Electric news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total transaction of $3,178,719.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 22,402 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,554,575.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total value of $834,202.98. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,150 shares in the company, valued at $2,308,819.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.63% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LECO. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the first quarter worth $26,000. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 194.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 106 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 81.1% in the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 172 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

NASDAQ LECO traded down $0.73 on Thursday, reaching $228.26. 259,612 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 287,720. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.99 billion, a PE ratio of 24.15, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.23. Lincoln Electric has a one year low of $164.00 and a one year high of $261.13. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $241.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $224.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.08. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 13.23% and a return on equity of 43.81%. The company had revenue of $981.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.13 EPS. Lincoln Electric's revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Lincoln Electric will post 9.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.15%.

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.