Fiera Capital Corp Reduces Stock Holdings in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Fiera Capital Corp lessened its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 194,381 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 6,527 shares during the quarter. Fiera Capital Corp’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $37,325,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 174.4% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 107 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the second quarter worth about $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 97.9% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 283 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. Quarry LP grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 41.5% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 308.5% in 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 during the period. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In related news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total transaction of $193,556.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,966,880.88. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on LECO shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $221.67.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

LECO stock opened at $213.65 on Friday. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.51 and a 1-year high of $261.13. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $191.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $198.21. The company has a market capitalization of $12.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.50, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.20.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $983.76 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $988.07 million. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.93% and a return on equity of 40.03%. The company’s revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.40 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is an increase from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.40%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.89%.

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.