Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) PT Raised to $241.00 at Stifel Nicolaus

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) had its price target hoisted by Stifel Nicolaus from $239.00 to $241.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “hold” rating on the industrial products company’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price objective would suggest a potential upside of 0.87% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on LECO. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Lincoln Electric from $232.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Lincoln Electric in a report on Monday, January 8th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $178.00 price target for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Lincoln Electric from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $210.50.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LECO opened at $238.93 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $248.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $217.53. The firm has a market cap of $13.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.20. Lincoln Electric has a 52 week low of $155.21 and a 52 week high of $261.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The industrial products company reported $2.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.26. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 45.09% and a net margin of 13.01%. The company had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.94 earnings per share. Lincoln Electric’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Lincoln Electric will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total transaction of $3,178,719.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 22,402 shares in the company, valued at $5,554,575.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total transaction of $3,178,719.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 22,402 shares in the company, valued at $5,554,575.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total value of $834,202.98. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,308,819.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln Electric

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LECO. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 2,027 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $279,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 19,635 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,706,000 after buying an additional 743 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the 1st quarter valued at $591,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the 1st quarter valued at $210,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,200,068 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $716,620,000 after buying an additional 38,059 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.