Short Interest in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Decreases By 18.0%

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 828,000 shares, a decrease of 18.0% from the October 31st total of 1,010,000 shares. Approximately 1.5% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 284,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.9 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on LECO. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $220.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total transaction of $193,556.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,178 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,966,880.88. The trade was a 8.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Jane Street Group LLC raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 52.1% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 26,764 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,837,000 after purchasing an additional 9,164 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the first quarter worth $385,000. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 202.8% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 31,221 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,975,000 after acquiring an additional 20,911 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 11.7% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 16,800 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,291,000 after acquiring an additional 1,765 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Lincoln Electric by 174.4% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 107 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

LECO stock opened at $218.48 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $200.77 and a 200-day moving average of $196.48. The company has a market cap of $12.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.07, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. Lincoln Electric has a 12-month low of $169.51 and a 12-month high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $983.76 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $988.07 million. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.03% and a net margin of 11.93%. Lincoln Electric’s revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Lincoln Electric will post 8.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. This is a boost from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.89%.

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.