Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $221.67.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total value of $193,556.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,966,880.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LECO. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,709,315 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,458,387,000 after purchasing an additional 15,062 shares during the period. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 valued at $518,210,000 after acquiring an additional 891,111 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 7.0% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,856,125 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $474,129,000 after purchasing an additional 121,914 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in 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 worth $99,155,000 after buying an additional 38,206 shares during the period. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.3% in the first quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 226,846 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $57,946,000 after purchasing an additional 598 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 2.5 %

NASDAQ LECO opened at $203.10 on Monday. Lincoln Electric has a 1-year low of $164.00 and a 1-year high of $261.13. The company has a market capitalization of $11.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.56, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.14. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $189.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $202.21. The company has a current ratio of 2.06, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.04. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 42.24% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.44 EPS. Lincoln Electric’s quarterly revenue was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric will post 8.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This is a boost from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.85%.

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.