National Bank of Canada FI Sells 2,686 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

National Bank of Canada FI cut its holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 86.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 438 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 2,686 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $83,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of LECO. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 99.2% in the 2nd quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 1,183 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $223,000 after buying an additional 589 shares during the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp lifted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 1.2% in the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 200,908 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $37,899,000 after acquiring an additional 2,311 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 8.8% in the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,290 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $238,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 20.9% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 28,963 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,464,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC now owns 183,428 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $34,602,000 after purchasing an additional 2,172 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LECO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Lincoln Electric from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $209.00 to $213.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $218.29.

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ LECO opened at $178.79 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $193.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $213.20. 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 cap of $10.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.14. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.00 and a 12 month high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 42.24%. Lincoln Electric’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.44 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued 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 1.59%. Lincoln Electric’s 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.