Tidal Investments LLC Lowers Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Tidal Investments LLC reduced its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,096 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 487 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $594,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Elios Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the third quarter valued at $999,000. Vestcor Inc increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 85.5% during the third quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 8,180 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,571,000 after purchasing an additional 3,771 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 3.5% during the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 237,935 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $45,688,000 after purchasing an additional 7,962 shares in the last quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the second quarter valued at approximately $834,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,042,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LECO has been the subject of several research reports. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $195.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $225.17.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LECO opened at $189.75 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $205.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $195.81. The firm has a market capitalization 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. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.51 and a fifty-two week high of $261.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.85.

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, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $988.07 million. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.58%. This is a boost from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is 35.80%.

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.