Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Sells 900 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky reduced its holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,802 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 900 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $4,089,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC now owns 181,094 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $39,381,000 after acquiring an additional 4,770 shares in the last quarter. Telos Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter worth approximately $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 buying an additional 424,831 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 27,989 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sapient Capital LLC bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter worth $13,377,000. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LECO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $241.00 to $238.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Loop Capital lowered their price target on Lincoln Electric from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price 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, KeyCorp dropped their price target on Lincoln Electric from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $225.29.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

LECO opened at $184.46 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 1.49. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $217.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $226.64. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.00 and a 1 year high of $261.13. The company has a market capitalization of $10.50 billion, a PE ratio of 19.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.17.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.08. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 13.23% and a return on equity of 43.81%. The company had revenue of $981.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.13 earnings per share. Lincoln Electric’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.22 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, June 30th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.15%.

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.