Robert W. Baird Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Stock Price

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) had its price objective decreased by stock analysts at Robert W. Baird from $242.00 to $212.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the industrial products company’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 15.53% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on LECO. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $178.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. StockNews.com raised Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $187.00 to $179.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $216.00.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

NASDAQ LECO opened at $183.50 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 1.25. Lincoln Electric has a 1-year low of $161.11 and a 1-year high of $238.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.52, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $187.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $196.04.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.22 by ($0.06). Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 11.63%. The firm had revenue of $365.45 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $974.39 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.23 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Lincoln Electric will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total value of $4,536,505.38. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 54,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,777,590.20. The trade was a 27.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln Electric

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,601,734 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,050,157,000 after purchasing an additional 18,805 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,735,527 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $325,359,000 after buying an additional 234,515 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $307,344,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 16.2% during the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,351,223 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $255,597,000 after acquiring an additional 188,104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,235,582 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $231,691,000 after acquiring an additional 31,033 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.