Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Price Target Cut to $252.00 by Analysts at Robert W. Baird

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) had its price objective trimmed by Robert W. Baird from $257.00 to $252.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on LECO. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $232.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Monday, January 8th. They set an underweight rating and a $178.00 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $239.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $216.63.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 0.9 %

LECO stock opened at $229.94 on Friday. Lincoln Electric has a 12-month low of $156.80 and a 12-month 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. The company has a market cap of $13.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.41, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a 50 day moving average of $248.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $219.44.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.08. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 13.23% and a return on equity of 43.81%. The company had revenue of $981.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.13 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, June 30th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is presently 30.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total value of $834,202.98. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,308,819.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total value of $834,202.98. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,308,819.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 22,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,554,575.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LECO. Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the first quarter worth about $26,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 194.4% in the first quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 106 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the first quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.