Morton Community Bank Sells 710 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Morton Community Bank trimmed its stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 19,217 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 710 shares during the period. Morton Community Bank’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $3,690,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Diversified Trust Co acquired a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the 2nd quarter worth $1,125,000. Elios Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at $999,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 3.5% during the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 237,935 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $45,688,000 after acquiring an additional 7,962 shares during the period. BDF Gestion bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the second quarter valued at $1,858,000. Finally, Bridges Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the second quarter valued at $834,000. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total value of $193,556.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,966,880.88. This represents a 8.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on LECO shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted 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 reduced their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $220.00.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of LECO opened at $218.48 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $200.77 and a 200-day moving average of $196.48. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $169.51 and a one year high of $261.13. The company has a market cap of $12.33 billion, a PE ratio of 26.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.14.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.93% and a return on equity of 40.03%. The firm had revenue of $983.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $988.07 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.89%.

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.