Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC Decreases Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 21.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,003 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,404 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $1,037,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in LECO. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 980.8% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 281 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 279.6% in the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 353 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 77.1% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 425 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 12.2% in the first quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 553 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $105,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IMA Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the first quarter worth $195,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In other news, EVP Gabriel Bruno sold 7,305 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.42, for a total value of $1,770,878.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 29,927 shares in the company, valued at $7,254,903.34. This trade represents a 19.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Jennifer I. Ansberry sold 3,000 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.18, for a total transaction of $726,540.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 19,173 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,643,317.14. This trade represents a 13.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 23,692 shares of company stock worth $5,745,148 in the last ninety days. 2.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Roth Capital assumed coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Friday, September 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $279.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 11th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.33.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 1.4%

LECO stock opened at $235.02 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $12.97 billion, a PE ratio of 26.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.68. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $238.99 and its 200 day moving average is $214.57. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $161.11 and a one year high of $249.19.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.32 by $0.28. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 39.79%. The company had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.34 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be given a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. This is a positive change from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.71%.

About Lincoln Electric

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.