Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. cut its holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,921 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 129 shares during the period. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $548,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vestcor Inc raised its position in 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 stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 28.7% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 431 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric during the 3rd quarter valued at $499,000. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter valued at $496,000. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 5,262 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $986,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lincoln Electric news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,777,590.20. This trade represents a 27.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LECO opened at $190.29 on Monday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $10.66 billion, a PE ratio of 23.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.51 and a 12-month high of $255.60. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $198.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $197.86.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 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 business had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.94 million. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.58%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.