ARK Investment Management LLC Sells 2,109 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

ARK Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 22.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,450 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 2,109 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $1,405,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in LECO. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the second quarter worth approximately $2,128,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 129,123 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $24,358,000 after purchasing an additional 912 shares during the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 70,686 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $13,334,000 after buying an additional 1,124 shares during the period. American National Bank lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 459.1% in the second quarter. American National Bank now owns 3,332 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $629,000 after buying an additional 2,736 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lecap Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric during the second quarter worth $2,373,000. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on LECO. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $209.00 to $213.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Loop Capital dropped their target price on Lincoln Electric from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their target price on Lincoln Electric from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $219.43.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 1.1 %

NASDAQ LECO traded down $2.24 on Tuesday, hitting $195.81. The stock had a trading volume of 97,458 shares, compared to its average volume of 328,985. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $194.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $218.99. The stock has a market cap of $11.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 2.06 and a quick ratio of 1.49. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.00 and a 52-week high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 42.24%. Lincoln Electric’s revenue was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.44 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.45%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.