Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Lowers Stock Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lessened its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,471 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $2,150,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of LECO. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 81.9% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,097,965 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $210,831,000 after buying an additional 494,464 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 12.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,462,232 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $474,527,000 after buying an additional 280,466 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 121.7% during the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 268,229 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $50,284,000 after buying an additional 147,239 shares during the period. Absher Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric during the third quarter worth about $24,604,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 5.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,204,549 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $231,345,000 after buying an additional 61,640 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of Lincoln Electric stock opened at $205.28 on Friday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.51 and a 52-week high of $261.13. The company has a 50 day moving average of $195.90 and a 200 day moving average of $196.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The company has a market capitalization of $11.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.54. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.63% and a return on equity of 40.19%. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.94 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.46%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is currently 36.81%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lincoln Electric news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total transaction of $4,536,505.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 54,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,777,590.20. This trade represents a 27.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 2.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on LECO. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $233.60.

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.