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

Atria Investments Inc cut its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 6.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,598 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 105 shares during the quarter. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $300,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of LECO. Elios Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 3rd quarter valued at about $999,000. Vestcor Inc raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 85.5% during the third quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 8,180 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,571,000 after purchasing an additional 3,771 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 28.7% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 431 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 3.5% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 237,935 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $45,688,000 after purchasing an additional 7,962 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the 3rd quarter valued at $499,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays raised their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $233.60.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of LECO opened at $190.98 on Tuesday. 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 $10.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.43, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.51 and a 52 week high of $261.13. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $197.63 and a 200-day moving average of $196.99.

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

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 is currently 36.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,777,590.20. This represents a 27.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.