Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Shares Sold by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lowered its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 6.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 434,650 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 28,480 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $83,462,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of LECO. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 65.7% during the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 1,697 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $434,000 after purchasing an additional 673 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 62.7% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 65,079 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $16,442,000 after purchasing an additional 25,082 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Lincoln Electric by 0.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,709,315 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,458,387,000 after acquiring an additional 15,062 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 8.2% during the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 2,471 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $631,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 9.6% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 4,034 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,030,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on LECO. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $220.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total transaction of $193,556.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,966,880.88. This represents a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

LECO opened at $206.10 on Monday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.51 and a 12 month high of $261.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market cap of $11.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $194.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $197.19.

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

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This is an increase from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is currently 33.89%.

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.