M&T Bank Corp Decreases Stock Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

M&T Bank Corp reduced its holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 2.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 40,287 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 952 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp owned approximately 0.07% of Lincoln Electric worth $7,735,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 97.9% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 283 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 41.5% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 308.5% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 335 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. HM Payson & Co. purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the 3rd quarter valued at $65,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 60.2% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 423 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the period. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ LECO opened at $189.75 on Monday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.51 and a twelve month high of $261.13. The firm has a market cap of $10.71 billion, a PE ratio of 22.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.16. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $205.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $195.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86.

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

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This is an increase 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 yield of 1.58%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is 35.80%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on LECO. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Lincoln Electric from $195.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. StockNews.com raised Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.17.

Lincoln Electric Company 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.