Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Has $9.52 Million Stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lessened its holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 50,801 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 961 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp owned 0.09% of Lincoln Electric worth $9,524,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LECO. Modern Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,480,000. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 11,452 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,147,000 after acquiring an additional 995 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,601,734 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,050,157,000 after purchasing an additional 18,805 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 32,449 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,083,000 after purchasing an additional 2,450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fox Run Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $366,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In other Lincoln Electric news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total value of $4,536,505.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,660 shares in the company, valued at $11,777,590.20. This represents a 27.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 2.3 %

NASDAQ:LECO opened at $190.29 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.51 and a 1-year high of $255.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.35, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $198.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $197.71.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.54. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.63% and a return on equity of 40.19%. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.94 million. On average, equities analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.81%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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