Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. Lowers Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. lessened its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,550 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 256 shares during the period. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $1,207,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LECO. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,954,544 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $748,605,000 after buying an additional 63,007 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,289,641 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $894,478,000 after buying an additional 15,200 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,958,667 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $373,594,000 after buying an additional 59,991 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,049,854 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $190,853,000 after buying an additional 174,278 shares during the period. Finally, Macquarie Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 55.9% during the 1st quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 744,444 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $125,885,000 after buying an additional 266,838 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LECO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Lincoln Electric in a research note on Monday, January 8th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $178.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $208.00 to $239.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $232.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $210.25.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of LECO opened at $238.60 on Monday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $155.21 and a 52-week high of $261.13. The company has a market capitalization of $13.56 billion, a PE ratio of 25.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $247.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $216.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The industrial products company reported $2.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.26. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 45.09% and a net margin of 13.01%. The business had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.94 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.58 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.31%.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In other news, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total transaction 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 document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total transaction of $3,178,719.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 22,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,554,575.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,308,819.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.63% 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, 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.