Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. Lowers Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. trimmed its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 5,072 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 218 shares during the quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $1,052,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 980.8% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 281 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 279.6% in the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 353 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 77.1% in the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 425 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $80,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 12.2% in the 1st quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 553 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $105,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Curat Global LLC bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 1st quarter worth $110,000. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LECO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Roth Capital assumed coverage on Lincoln Electric in a research report on Friday, September 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $279.00 target price on the stock. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $239.33.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of LECO opened at $236.39 on Friday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $161.11 and a 52 week high of $249.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The company has a market capitalization of $13.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.56, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $239.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $211.65.

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

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.23, for a total transaction of $233,230.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 9,177 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,140,351.71. This represents a 9.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 12,387 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.36, for a total value of $3,014,500.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 55,866 shares in the company, valued at $13,595,549.76. This represents a 18.15% 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 over the last ninety days. 2.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.