Patten & Patten Inc. TN Sells 386 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Patten & Patten Inc. TN lessened its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 86,281 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 386 shares during the period. Lincoln Electric makes up approximately 1.1% of Patten & Patten Inc. TN’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Patten & Patten Inc. TN owned about 0.15% of Lincoln Electric worth $16,175,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,813 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $527,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 3,255 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $610,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 36.5% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 54,934 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $10,298,000 after acquiring an additional 14,692 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 111,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $20,903,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 83.8% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,336 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $438,000 after acquiring an additional 1,065 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In related news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total transaction of $4,536,505.38. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,777,590.20. This represents a 27.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Lincoln Electric stock opened at $190.50 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $197.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $196.99. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.51 and a twelve month high of $261.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The company has a market cap of $10.69 billion, a PE ratio of 23.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18.

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

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.81%.

Lincoln Electric 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.