Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The industrial products company reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.09, Briefing.com reports. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 42.24%. The company had revenue of $983.76 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $988.07 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.40 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 4.8 %

LECO stock traded up $9.19 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $201.75. The stock had a trading volume of 355,982 shares, compared to its average volume of 319,245. The company has a quick ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 2.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. Lincoln Electric has a twelve month low of $169.51 and a twelve month high of $261.13. The firm has a market cap of $11.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.85, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $189.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $199.42.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is 32.16%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on LECO. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $221.67.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In related news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total value of $193,556.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,178 shares in the company, valued at $1,966,880.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.