Comerica Bank Sells 10,058 Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Comerica Bank decreased its position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) by 7.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 116,515 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 10,058 shares during the quarter. Comerica Bank owned 0.20% of Lincoln Electric worth $29,763,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 1,501 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $326,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 18,437 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,009,000 after buying an additional 544 shares during the last quarter. Trust Point Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter valued at about $583,000. Private Trust Co. NA raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 2,661 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $579,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 361,637 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $78,642,000 after acquiring an additional 8,223 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LECO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $213.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $209.00 to $213.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their target price on Lincoln Electric from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $219.43.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 3.4 %

Lincoln Electric stock traded down $6.97 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $198.44. The stock had a trading volume of 239,311 shares, compared to its average volume of 342,417. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $194.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $222.67. The company has a market capitalization of $11.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.17, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.00 and a 12 month high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 13.23% and a return on equity of 43.81%. The business’s revenue was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.44 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.15%.

Lincoln Electric 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.