Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Barclays Analyst Says

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) had its price target boosted by analysts at Barclays from $220.00 to $235.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the industrial products company’s stock. Barclays‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 8.85% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $233.60.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LECO opened at $215.90 on Tuesday. Lincoln Electric has a twelve month low of $169.51 and a twelve month high of $261.13. The firm has a market cap of $12.18 billion, a PE ratio of 26.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.87. The business has a fifty day moving average of $194.84 and a 200-day moving average of $196.07.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.54. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 11.63%. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.94 million. On average, equities research analysts predict that Lincoln Electric will post 9.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter valued at about $307,344,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter valued at about $110,062,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 81.9% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,097,965 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $210,831,000 after purchasing an additional 494,464 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter valued at about $92,117,000. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 15,932.5% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 336,682 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $63,118,000 after purchasing an additional 334,582 shares in the last quarter. 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.