Atria Investments Inc Decreases Stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Atria Investments Inc lessened its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 24.5% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,703 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 552 shares during the quarter. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $327,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its position in Lincoln Electric by 9.6% in the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 4,034 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,030,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 21.1% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 45,409 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $11,593,000 after buying an additional 7,922 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 1st quarter valued at about $514,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 20,337.5% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,635 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $417,000 after acquiring an additional 1,627 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robotti Robert increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 0.3% during the first quarter. Robotti Robert now owns 49,603 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $12,671,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 11,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,966,880.88. This represents a 8.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of Lincoln Electric stock opened at $213.52 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $196.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $197.07. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.51 and a 52 week high of $261.13. The company has a market capitalization of $12.05 billion, a PE ratio of 25.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.14.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $983.76 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $988.07 million. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.93% and a return on equity of 40.03%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.40 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This is a positive change from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.41%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is presently 33.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com lowered Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. KeyCorp raised their price target on Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price 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, three have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $220.00.

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.