M&T Bank Corp Sells 16,022 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. $LECO

M&T Bank Corp decreased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 41.8% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 22,291 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 16,022 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $4,622,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $354,063,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 5.6% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,558,783 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $323,167,000 after purchasing an additional 83,035 shares during the period. Boston Partners acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the second quarter valued at $141,550,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 8.4% in the second quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 581,580 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $120,573,000 after purchasing an additional 45,185 shares during the period. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 24.4% during the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 504,479 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $104,589,000 after buying an additional 98,920 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Roth Capital set a $285.00 price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $247.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.23, for a total value of $233,230.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 9,177 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,140,351.71. This trade represents a 9.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 12,387 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.36, for a total value of $3,014,500.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,595,549.76. This trade represents a 18.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of LECO stock opened at $244.05 on Friday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $161.11 and a 52 week high of $249.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.43 billion, a PE ratio of 26.13, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.71. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $234.20 and its 200-day moving average is $226.78.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.08. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.33% and a net margin of 12.56%.The business had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.14 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. This is an increase from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is currently 32.12%.

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.