Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE Decreases Stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE lessened its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,800 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $525,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vestcor Inc increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 85.5% in the third quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 8,180 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,571,000 after buying an additional 3,771 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 28.7% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 431 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 3rd quarter worth about $499,000. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter worth approximately $496,000. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings 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 valued at $986,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on LECO. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays lifted 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. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $233.60.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 4.1 %

NASDAQ LECO opened at $172.02 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.87. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $168.29 and a one year high of $250.17. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $197.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $197.90. The firm has a market cap of $9.64 billion, a PE ratio of 21.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.54. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 11.63%. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.94 million. Analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.81%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $11,777,590.20. This represents a 27.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

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.