Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Short Interest Down 13.6% in June

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,140,000 shares, a decline of 13.6% from the May 31st total of 1,320,000 shares. Currently, 2.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 368,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.1 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LECO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $252.00 to $236.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $241.00 to $238.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Loop Capital cut their target price on Lincoln Electric from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $225.29.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in Lincoln Electric during the first quarter worth $26,000. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 194.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 106 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 174.4% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 107 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 81.1% in the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 172 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of Lincoln Electric stock traded down $4.15 during trading on Monday, hitting $184.49. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 262,530 shares, compared to its average volume of 339,708. The stock has a market cap of $10.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.15. Lincoln Electric has a 52 week low of $164.00 and a 52 week high of $261.13. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $208.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $225.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 1.49.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $981.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 43.81% and a net margin of 13.23%. The business’s revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.13 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric will post 9.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 30th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.15%.

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.