Commerce Bank Trims Stock Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Commerce Bank cut its position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 7.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 32,504 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 2,573 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $7,068,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LECO. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 22.5% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,719 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $312,000 after acquiring an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC raised its position in Lincoln Electric by 621.4% in the 3rd quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 35,623 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,476,000 after purchasing an additional 30,685 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric in the 3rd quarter worth $246,000. Larson Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the third quarter worth $52,000. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the third quarter valued at about $333,000. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of LECO stock opened at $202.47 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.49, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $237.45 and a 200 day moving average of $226.63. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.00 and a 52 week high of $261.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.08. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 13.23% and a return on equity of 43.81%. The firm had revenue of $981.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.13 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is 30.15%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LECO has been the topic of several analyst reports. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $252.00 to $236.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $241.00 to $238.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 26th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Loop Capital cut their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $225.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total value of $834,202.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,308,819.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company 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.