Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Sets New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $250.53 and last traded at $248.08, with a volume of 21073 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $247.16.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on LECO. Zacks Research cut shares of Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Barclays increased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $247.00.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $13.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $234.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $228.29.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.08. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.33% and a net margin of 12.56%.The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.14 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. This is a boost from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is 32.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.23, for a total value of $233,230.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 9,177 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,140,351.71. The trade was a 9.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln Electric

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LECO. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,850,816 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $436,478,000 after buying an additional 72,826 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 2nd quarter valued at about $354,063,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,558,783 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $323,167,000 after acquiring an additional 83,035 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Lincoln Electric by 31.8% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 919,926 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $216,946,000 after buying an additional 221,853 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 24.6% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 850,201 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $200,517,000 after acquiring an additional 167,773 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.