Summit Investment Advisors Inc. Sells 364 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Summit Investment Advisors Inc. cut its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 26,153 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 364 shares during the period. Summit Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $4,903,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LECO. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 21,199 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,974,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,737 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $326,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 806 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $151,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,634 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,813,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,644 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $871,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays lifted their price target on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $233.60.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Lincoln Electric stock opened at $181.13 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.22, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $194.60 and its 200-day moving average is $197.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $161.11 and a 12 month high of $243.04.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.54. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 11.63%. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.94 million. Equities research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.66%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is presently 36.81%.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In other news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total transaction of $4,536,505.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,777,590.20. This represents a 27.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

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.