Creative Planning Sells 158 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Creative Planning lessened its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 1.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 12,623 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 158 shares during the period. Creative Planning’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $2,424,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 1,303 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $250,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 174.4% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 107 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 194.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 106 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. lifted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 26,125 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,673,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 41.5% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

LECO stock opened at $193.71 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $189.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $200.11. The company has a market capitalization of $11.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.56, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.14. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.63 and a 52-week high of $261.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 2.06.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.04. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 42.24%. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.44 earnings per share. Lincoln Electric’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.78 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is 31.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LECO has been the subject of several research reports. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $221.67.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In other news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total transaction of $193,556.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,178 shares in the company, valued at $1,966,880.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is currently 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.