Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the eight analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $228.00.

LECO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $232.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Monday, April 29th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $241.00 to $238.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $257.00 to $252.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 9.5 %

Shares of LECO opened at $205.57 on Friday. Lincoln Electric has a 1-year low of $164.00 and a 1-year high of $261.13. The company has a 50-day moving average of $238.37 and a 200 day moving average of $226.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.82, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 1.49.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.13 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric will post 9.6 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 30th will be given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is currently 30.15%.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total transaction of $834,202.98. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,308,819.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln Electric

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 0.3% during the 1st 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 last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,856,125 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $474,129,000 after acquiring an additional 121,914 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter valued at $336,627,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,049,854 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $190,853,000 after acquiring an additional 174,278 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 10.9% in the 4th quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 687,841 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $149,578,000 after acquiring an additional 67,867 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

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.