Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Sells 1,899 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 24.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,846 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,899 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $1,493,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LECO. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC now owns 181,094 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $39,381,000 after purchasing an additional 4,770 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 54.3% in the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 21,939 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,604,000 after purchasing an additional 7,718 shares in the last quarter. Telos Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter valued at $925,000. Eagle Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2,984.6% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 439,065 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $95,479,000 after purchasing an additional 424,831 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 28.4% in the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 126,573 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,525,000 after purchasing an additional 27,989 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on LECO shares. KeyCorp reduced their target price on Lincoln Electric from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 24th. Loop Capital cut their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 24th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $241.00 to $238.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 26th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $252.00 to $236.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 24th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $225.29.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of LECO opened at $196.93 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.21 billion, a PE ratio of 20.91, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.15. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.00 and a 12 month high of $261.13. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $200.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $223.37. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.08. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 43.81% and a net margin of 13.23%. The firm had revenue of $981.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.13 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.04 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, June 30th will be given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is 30.15%.

Lincoln Electric 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.