Analysts Set Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Price Target at $239.33

Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $239.3333.

LECO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Roth Capital initiated coverage on Lincoln Electric in a research note on Friday, September 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $279.00 price target for the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of NASDAQ LECO opened at $236.39 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $239.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $211.53. Lincoln Electric has a 52-week low of $161.11 and a 52-week high of $249.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.68. The company has a market cap of $13.05 billion, a PE ratio of 26.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.20.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.32 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 39.79%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.34 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric will post 9.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.71%.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In other news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.23, for a total value of $233,230.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 9,177 shares in the company, valued at $2,140,351.71. This trade represents a 9.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Jennifer I. Ansberry sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.18, for a total value of $726,540.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 19,173 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,643,317.14. This trade represents a 13.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 23,692 shares of company stock valued at $5,745,148 over the last 90 days. 2.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LECO. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 82.4% during the second quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 155 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 980.8% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 281 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares during the period. Employees Retirement System of Texas purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 2nd quarter worth $64,000. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 279.6% in the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 353 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 77.1% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 425 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in 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.