Diversified Trust Co Has $560,000 Stake in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Diversified Trust Co reduced its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 9.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,986 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 316 shares during the quarter. Diversified Trust Co’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $560,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 97.9% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 283 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 41.5% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 308.5% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 335 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. HM Payson & Co. acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at $65,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 60.2% in 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 institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on LECO. StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Lincoln Electric from $195.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $234.60.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of Lincoln Electric stock opened at $180.51 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 market cap of $10.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.18. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $202.80 and its 200-day moving average is $195.79. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $169.51 and a one year high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.09. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.03% and a net margin of 11.93%. The firm had revenue of $983.76 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $988.07 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.40 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. This is an increase from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.80%.

Lincoln Electric Company 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.