StockNews.com Downgrades Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) to Hold

StockNews.com lowered shares of Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Thursday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on LECO. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $209.00 to $213.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 24th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $218.29.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Lincoln Electric stock opened at $175.06 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $194.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $215.81. Lincoln Electric has a 12-month low of $164.00 and a 12-month high of $261.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 2.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The company has a market capitalization of $9.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.58, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.14.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 42.24%. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.44 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric will post 9.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.62%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.15%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LECO. Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in Lincoln Electric during the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 194.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 106 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 174.4% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 107 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in Lincoln Electric during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. 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.