Fisher Asset Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Fisher Asset Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 17.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 486,276 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 103,126 shares during the quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC owned about 0.85% of Lincoln Electric worth $105,746,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Andina Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter valued at $304,000. Mach 1 Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter valued at $228,000. CM Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 25,909.0% in the 4th quarter. CM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 178,942 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $39,040,000 after buying an additional 178,254 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in Lincoln Electric by 38.3% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 17,397 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,783,000 after buying an additional 4,820 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 8,965 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,955,000 after acquiring an additional 647 shares during the period. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total value of $834,202.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,308,819.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total value of $834,202.98. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,308,819.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total transaction of $3,178,719.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 22,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,554,575.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of LECO opened at $222.93 on Friday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.00 and a 52 week high of $261.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market cap of $12.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.67, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $245.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $221.02.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $981.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 13.23% and a return on equity of 43.81%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.61 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.15%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on LECO. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $241.00 to $238.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Lincoln Electric from $257.00 to $252.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 26th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $232.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Monday, April 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $228.00.

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.