New York State Teachers Retirement System Sells 4,000 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

New York State Teachers Retirement System trimmed its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 6.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 60,445 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 4,000 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $11,434,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 17.2% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,035 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $385,000 after purchasing an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 7.2% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,609 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,250,000 after buying an additional 442 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in Lincoln Electric by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 5,262 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $986,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 358,331 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $67,176,000 after acquiring an additional 2,088 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 255.1% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 174 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LECO opened at $216.12 on Friday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $161.11 and a fifty-two week high of $222.52. The company has a market cap of $12.07 billion, a PE ratio of 26.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.78. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $196.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $193.64.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $365.45 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $974.39 million. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.44% and a net margin of 11.44%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.23 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is currently 36.99%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LECO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $178.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $206.40.

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.