Carnegie Investment Counsel Sells 928 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Carnegie Investment Counsel lessened its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,179 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 928 shares during the period. Carnegie Investment Counsel’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $3,807,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,709,315 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,458,387,000 after acquiring an additional 15,062 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,856,125 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $474,129,000 after purchasing an additional 121,914 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter valued at about $336,627,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its position in Lincoln Electric by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 687,841 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $149,578,000 after buying an additional 67,867 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 561,636 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $122,138,000 after buying an additional 6,280 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on LECO shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $209.00 to $213.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $213.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $219.43.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ LECO traded down $1.41 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $193.46. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 81,789 shares, compared to its average volume of 335,055. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 2.06 and a quick ratio of 1.49. The stock has a market cap of $11.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.15. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $192.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $220.26. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $164.00 and a one year high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 42.24%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.44 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is 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.