Royce & Associates LP Has $38.08 Million Stock Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Royce & Associates LP cut its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 10.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 203,118 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 24,016 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $38,079,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Lincoln Electric by 3.0% during the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,644 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $316,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 3.2% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,646 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $316,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 21,199 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,974,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,737 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $326,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 806 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $151,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LECO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com raised Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $233.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lincoln Electric news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total value of $4,536,505.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 54,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,777,590.20. This trade represents a 27.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LECO opened at $190.50 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $197.52 and its 200-day moving average is $196.99. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.51 and a 1-year high of $261.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $10.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.54. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 11.63%. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.94 million. Equities research analysts predict that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.57%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.81%.

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.