Gotham Asset Management LLC Has $23.69 Million Stock Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Gotham Asset Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 17.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 126,343 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 26,261 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC owned 0.22% of Lincoln Electric worth $23,686,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of LECO. Mizuho Bank Ltd. bought a new position in Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 255.1% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 174 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 54.1% in the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 299 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 37.5% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 389 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the period. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter valued at about $76,000. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Lincoln Electric from $178.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $216.17.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln Electric

In other news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total value of $4,536,505.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,660 shares in the company, valued at $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 is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of LECO opened at $185.87 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $185.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $195.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.87. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $161.11 and a twelve month high of $238.47. The firm has a market cap of $10.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.81, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by ($0.06). Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 11.63%. The company had revenue of $365.45 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $974.39 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.23 earnings per share. Lincoln Electric’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.99%.

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.