Legal & General Group Plc Sells 13,666 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Legal & General Group Plc cut its position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 11.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 103,867 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 13,666 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.18% of Lincoln Electric worth $19,472,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 7.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,046 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $969,000 after acquiring an additional 366 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the third quarter worth $499,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 3rd quarter valued at $121,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 129,959 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $24,955,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares in the last quarter. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 4,352 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $833,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LECO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $178.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $227.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total transaction of $4,536,505.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,777,590.20. This trade 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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LECO opened at $179.95 on Tuesday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $161.11 and a 52 week high of $243.04. 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 firm has a market cap of $10.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $194.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $197.22.

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 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 firm had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.94 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.67%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is currently 36.81%.

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.