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

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $247.00.

A number of brokerages have commented on LECO. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. KeyCorp raised their price target on Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In other news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 9,177 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,140,351.71. This trade represents a 9.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 12,387 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.36, for a total transaction of $3,014,500.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,866 shares in the company, valued at $13,595,549.76. The trade was a 18.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 2.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LECO. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,850,816 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $436,478,000 after buying an additional 72,826 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the second quarter valued at about $354,063,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 5.6% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,558,783 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $323,167,000 after acquiring an additional 83,035 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 31.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 919,926 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $216,946,000 after purchasing an additional 221,853 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 24.6% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 850,201 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $200,517,000 after purchasing an additional 167,773 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LECO opened at $232.00 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $12.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. Lincoln Electric has a 52 week low of $161.11 and a 52 week high of $249.19. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $233.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $224.75.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.05 billion. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.79% and a net margin of 12.27%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.14 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. This is an increase from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is presently 33.83%.

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.