UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Sells 26,237 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC reduced its position in shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 17.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 126,456 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 26,237 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC’s holdings in Lincoln Electric were worth $24,282,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 48.0% in the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 81.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 494,464 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 7.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 525,647 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $99,155,000 after acquiring an additional 38,206 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 18,413.8% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 258,267 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $49,592,000 after purchasing an additional 256,872 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 3.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 7,962 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LECO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp raised their target price on Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on 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 upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $220.00.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 1.9 %

LECO stock opened at $212.00 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $202.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $196.09. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.51 and a twelve month high of $261.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.96 billion, a PE ratio of 25.30, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The company 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%. Lincoln Electric’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.40 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 8.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

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 dividend of $0.75 per share. This is a positive change from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is presently 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.