Dana Investment Advisors Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Dana Investment Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 8.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,095 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 105 shares during the period. Dana Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $205,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 255.1% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 174 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 54.1% during the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 299 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 37.5% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 389 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter valued at about $76,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 60.2% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 423 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 owns 54,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,777,590.20. This represents a 27.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com raised Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price 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. Barclays lifted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $233.60.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LECO opened at $201.67 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 1.25. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.51 and a 1 year high of $261.13. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $196.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $197.15. The company has a market cap of $11.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.74, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.94 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is 36.81%.

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.