Envestnet Asset Management Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Envestnet Asset Management Inc. cut its holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 13.8% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 134,368 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 21,542 shares during the quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $25,347,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LECO. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 54.3% during the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 21,939 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,604,000 after acquiring an additional 7,718 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 62.7% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 65,079 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $16,442,000 after acquiring an additional 25,082 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 2,984.6% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 439,065 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $95,479,000 after acquiring an additional 424,831 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 21.1% in the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 45,409 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $11,593,000 after acquiring an additional 7,922 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 28.4% in the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 126,573 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,525,000 after acquiring an additional 27,989 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on LECO shares. StockNews.com cut Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $209.00 to $213.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $218.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was 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 approximately $1,966,880.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of LECO opened at $185.45 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $192.71 and its 200-day moving average is $210.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.14. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $164.00 and a one year 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 42.24% and a net margin of 12.48%. Lincoln Electric’s revenue was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.44 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.97 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.