Arizona State Retirement System Purchases 188 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Arizona State Retirement System grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 1.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,908 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $3,001,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its position in Lincoln Electric by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,459 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $317,000 after buying an additional 106 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter worth $266,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 349,203 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $75,938,000 after purchasing an additional 5,820 shares during the period. Wealthspire Advisors LLC bought a new position in Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter worth $200,000. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the company. 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. Robert W. Baird decreased 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 report on Wednesday, September 4th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $209.00 to $213.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. StockNews.com cut shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their price target on Lincoln Electric from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $218.29.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ:LECO opened at $174.45 on Tuesday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.00 and a 12 month high of $261.13. The company has a current ratio of 2.06, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.52, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.15. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $193.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $215.07.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.04. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 42.24% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.44 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is 30.15%.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In related news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total value of $193,556.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,966,880.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.