D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Sells 21,191 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. cut its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 48.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,496 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 21,191 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $4,217,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 28.7% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 431 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $496,000. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 5,262 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $986,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 358,331 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $67,176,000 after acquiring an additional 2,088 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 255.1% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 174 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LECO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $178.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $216.17.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 2.6%

NASDAQ LECO opened at $203.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.87. The company has a market capitalization of $11.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $161.11 and a one year high of $229.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $185.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $195.61.

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

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.48%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is presently 36.99%.

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.