National Bank of Canada FI Sells 195 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

National Bank of Canada FI lessened its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 44.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 243 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 195 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $47,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Elios Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the third quarter worth $999,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 7,962 shares during the last quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric during the second quarter worth about $834,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric during the second quarter worth about $3,042,000. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 19,879 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,817,000 after purchasing an additional 2,642 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Lincoln Electric stock opened at $199.15 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $205.01 and its 200 day moving average is $195.80. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $169.51 and a one year high of $261.13. The firm has a market cap of $11.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.20.

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

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is a positive change from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.51%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.80%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on LECO shares. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $195.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. KeyCorp increased their target price on Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $225.17.

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.