Alliancebernstein L.P. Sells 276 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

Alliancebernstein L.P. lessened its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 0.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 82,171 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 276 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned approximately 0.15% of Lincoln Electric worth $15,543,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of LECO. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 15.8% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 1,908 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $358,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,159 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,404,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter worth $750,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter worth $1,404,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 28.3% in the fourth quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 7,739 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,451,000 after purchasing an additional 1,707 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Jennifer I. Ansberry sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 19,173 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,643,317.14. This represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Gabriel Bruno sold 7,305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.42, for a total transaction of $1,770,878.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 29,927 shares in the company, valued at $7,254,903.34. This represents a 19.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on LECO shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Roth Capital started coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Friday, September 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $279.00 price objective on the stock. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $239.33.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LECO opened at $242.84 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $234.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $207.28. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $161.11 and a 1-year high of $249.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.34 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.71%.

About Lincoln Electric

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.