Stifel Nicolaus Increases Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Price Target to $185.00

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) had its target price raised by equities research analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $184.00 to $185.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “hold” rating on the industrial products company’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price target would suggest a potential downside of 6.67% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts have also commented on LECO. StockNews.com lowered shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $221.67.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ LECO opened at $198.22 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $188.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $202.88. Lincoln Electric has a 1 year low of $164.00 and a 1 year high of $261.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 2.06 and a quick ratio of 1.31.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 42.24%. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.44 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric will post 8.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total value of $193,556.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,966,880.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln Electric

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LECO. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter worth approximately $314,000. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter worth approximately $210,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 10.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,126 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $288,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the period. First Hawaiian Bank bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the 1st quarter worth approximately $942,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the 1st quarter worth approximately $215,000. 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.