Ledyard National Bank Has $5.82 Million Stock Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Ledyard National Bank decreased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 30,322 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 3,894 shares during the period. Ledyard National Bank owned 0.05% of Lincoln Electric worth $5,822,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LECO. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Lincoln Electric by 0.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,709,315 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,458,387,000 after purchasing an additional 15,062 shares in the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 48.0% during the second quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,747,083 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $518,210,000 after acquiring an additional 891,111 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 7.0% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,856,125 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $474,129,000 after acquiring an additional 121,914 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 7.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 525,647 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $99,155,000 after purchasing an additional 38,206 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 226,846 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $57,946,000 after purchasing an additional 598 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total value of $193,556.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,178 shares in the company, valued at $1,966,880.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on LECO. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com downgraded Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $221.67.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

LECO stock opened at $200.01 on Tuesday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.00 and a 1 year high of $261.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.38 billion, a PE ratio of 21.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.14. The company’s 50-day moving average is $189.43 and its 200-day moving average is $201.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 2.06 and a quick ratio of 1.31.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion for 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 period last year, the firm earned $2.44 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.50%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.85%.

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.