ARK Investment Management LLC Lowers Stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

ARK Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,590 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 925 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $2,699,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 17.3% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 407 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 14.7% in the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 492 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 5,698 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $964,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the period. Everhart Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,286 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $387,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the period. Finally, Brinker Capital Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Brinker Capital Investments LLC now owns 3,702 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $510,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LECO has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Lincoln Electric in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Oppenheimer downgraded Lincoln Electric from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 21st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Lincoln Electric from $176.00 to $211.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $187.00.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

LECO traded up $0.17 during trading on Friday, reaching $181.20. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 699,753 shares, compared to its average volume of 366,987. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $193.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $180.27. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $120.01 and a 1 year high of $210.86. The company has a market cap of $10.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.12, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.17.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The industrial products company reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.32 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.04% and a return on equity of 46.60%. The business’s revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.18 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.09 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 13th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.64 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 28th. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.41%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.26%.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In other news, EVP Jennifer I. Ansberry sold 8,962 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.27, for a total transaction of $1,794,819.74. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,919,283.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Jennifer I. Ansberry sold 8,962 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.27, for a total value of $1,794,819.74. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,919,283.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.64, for a total transaction of $204,204.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,174,958.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Company Profile

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, as well as consumables used in the brazing and soldering alloys market.