Diversified Trust Co Sells 316 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Diversified Trust Co lessened its holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 9.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,986 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 316 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $560,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LECO. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 97.9% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 283 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 41.5% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 308.5% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 335 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares during the period. HM Payson & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at $65,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 60.2% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 423 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on LECO. StockNews.com raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $195.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price target on Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $234.60.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

LECO stock opened at $180.51 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $202.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $195.79. 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 current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.19 billion, a PE ratio of 21.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.18.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its earnings results 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. The company 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 quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.40 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.74 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This is a boost from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is currently 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.