Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $226.33.

A number of brokerages recently commented on LECO. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $209.00 to $213.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of Lincoln Electric stock opened at $194.33 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 2.06, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $188.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $203.85. Lincoln Electric has a 12 month low of $164.00 and a 12 month high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.04. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 42.24% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.44 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric will post 8.95 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is currently 30.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total value of $193,556.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,966,880.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln Electric

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its position in Lincoln Electric by 4.8% in the third quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 1,303 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Threadgill Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Threadgill Financial LLC now owns 1,267 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $324,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 174.4% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 107 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 194.4% during the first quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 106 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Counselors Inc. increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 0.3% during the first quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 26,125 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,673,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

About Lincoln Electric

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.