Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) by 12.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 405,043 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 58,206 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.72% of Lincoln Electric worth $77,776,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 48.0% in the second quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,747,083 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $518,210,000 after buying an additional 891,111 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,462,232 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $474,527,000 after acquiring an additional 280,466 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,204,549 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $231,345,000 after purchasing an additional 61,640 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Lincoln Electric by 81.9% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,097,965 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $210,831,000 after purchasing an additional 494,464 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 7.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 525,647 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $99,155,000 after purchasing an additional 38,206 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company's stock.
LECO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $195.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. 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 upgraded Lincoln Electric from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $225.17.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on LECO
NASDAQ LECO opened at $189.75 on Friday. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $205.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $195.73. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.51 and a 1 year high of $261.13. 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 company has a market cap of $10.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.64, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.16.
Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) 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 return on equity of 40.03% and a net margin of 11.93%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.75 earnings per share for the current year.
The firm also recently disclosed 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. This is an increase from Lincoln Electric's previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio is 35.80%.
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.
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