Fisher Asset Management LLC Sells 103,126 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Fisher Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 17.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 486,276 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 103,126 shares during the quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC owned 0.85% of Lincoln Electric worth $105,746,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 43.1% in the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 166 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Lincoln Electric by 1.2% during the third quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,700 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $854,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its position in Lincoln Electric by 46.9% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 188 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its position in Lincoln Electric by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 1,825 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $397,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in Lincoln Electric by 81.1% during the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 172 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LECO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $257.00 to $252.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $241.00 to $238.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 26th. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $232.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $228.00.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

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

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of LECO stock traded up $0.37 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $222.93. The company's stock had a trading volume of 199,190 shares, compared to its average volume of 293,561. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.00 and a 12-month high of $261.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.69 billion, a PE ratio of 23.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.23. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $245.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $221.25.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.08. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 43.81% and a net margin of 13.23%. The company had revenue of $981.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.13 EPS. Lincoln Electric's revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio is currently 30.15%.

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.