Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $239.3333.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on LECO shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Roth Capital started coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Friday, September 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $279.00 target price for the company. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday.

Insider Activity

In related 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 transaction of $233,230.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 9,177 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,140,351.71. The trade was a 9.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jennifer I. Ansberry sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.18, for a total transaction of $726,540.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 19,173 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,643,317.14. This represents a 13.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,692 shares of company stock worth $5,745,148 in the last three months. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LECO. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the second quarter valued at approximately $354,063,000. Boston Partners bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the second quarter valued at approximately $141,550,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 439.8% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 596,617 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $123,691,000 after purchasing an additional 486,090 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 22,146.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 291,874 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $55,211,000 after purchasing an additional 290,562 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 16.2% during the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,351,223 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $255,597,000 after purchasing an additional 188,104 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of LECO stock opened at $236.39 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $13.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.68. Lincoln Electric has a 52 week low of $161.11 and a 52 week high of $249.19. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $239.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $211.77.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.32 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 39.79%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.34 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is currently 33.71%.

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.