Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV Trims Stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV decreased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 24,834 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 93 shares during the quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $4,656,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in LECO. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Lincoln Electric by 97.9% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 283 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 41.5% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 308.5% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 335 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. HM Payson & Co. acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the third quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 60.2% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 423 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the period. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 0.0 %

LECO stock opened at $185.45 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The company has a market cap of $10.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.13, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $202.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $195.79. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.51 and a 52 week high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.09. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.03% and a net margin of 11.93%. The company had revenue of $983.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $988.07 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.40 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.74 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is an increase from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is currently 35.80%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the stock. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Lincoln Electric from $195.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $234.60.

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.