Ritholtz Wealth Management Has $235,000 Stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Ritholtz Wealth Management reduced its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 15.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,243 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 219 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $235,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter valued at about $336,627,000. Eagle Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Lincoln Electric by 2,984.6% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 439,065 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $95,479,000 after buying an additional 424,831 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its position in Lincoln Electric by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,856,125 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $474,129,000 after buying an additional 121,914 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 687,841 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $149,578,000 after acquiring an additional 67,867 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $11,888,000. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LECO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. KeyCorp lowered their target price on Lincoln Electric from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Loop Capital lowered their target price on Lincoln Electric from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Lincoln Electric from $209.00 to $213.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $218.29.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

LECO stock opened at $175.06 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $194.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $216.03. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.00 and a 1-year high of $261.13. The company has a current ratio of 2.06, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market cap of $9.96 billion, a PE ratio of 18.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.15.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.04. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 42.24% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.44 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.07 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, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is 30.15%.

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.