Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Has $488,000 Stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System decreased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 18.2% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,579 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 573 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $488,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of LECO. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter worth approximately $68,000. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 77.1% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 425 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 12.2% during the first quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 553 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $105,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Curat Global LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the first quarter worth approximately $110,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 36.1% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $113,000 after buying an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on LECO. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $231.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Jennifer I. Ansberry sold 3,000 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.18, for a total transaction of $726,540.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 19,173 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,643,317.14. This trade represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Gabriel Bruno sold 7,305 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.42, for a total transaction of $1,770,878.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 29,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,254,903.34. This represents a 19.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of LECO stock opened at $243.61 on Friday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $161.11 and a 52-week high of $246.83. The stock has a market cap of $13.44 billion, a PE ratio of 27.37, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.68. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $219.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $201.68.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.32 by $0.28. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 39.79%. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.34 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.71%.

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.