Short Interest in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Declines By 35.6%

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 992,300 shares, a decline of 35.6% from the June 30th total of 1,540,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 407,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days. Approximately 1.8% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Loop Capital reduced their price target on Lincoln Electric from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 24th. StockNews.com downgraded Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $252.00 to $236.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 24th. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped 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, May 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $221.71.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln Electric

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LECO. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 121,698 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $26,464,000 after purchasing an additional 2,664 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 76.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 12,092 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,630,000 after purchasing an additional 5,220 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 1,501 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 18,437 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,009,000 after purchasing an additional 544 shares during the period. Finally, Trust Point Inc. bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $583,000. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 0.8 %

LECO stock traded down $1.66 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $208.70. The stock had a trading volume of 83,934 shares, compared to its average volume of 335,264. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. Lincoln Electric has a 1-year low of $164.00 and a 1-year high of $261.13. The company has a fifty day moving average of $195.15 and a 200 day moving average of $222.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.33, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.15.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $981.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 43.81% and a net margin of 13.23%. The firm’s revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.13 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Lincoln Electric will post 9.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.36%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.15%.

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.