Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Receives $233.60 Average PT from Analysts

Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $233.60.

LECO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Lincoln Electric stock opened at $194.38 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $197.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $196.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.87. Lincoln Electric has a fifty-two week low of $169.51 and a fifty-two week high of $261.13. The company has a market capitalization of $10.90 billion, a PE ratio of 23.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.54. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.94 million. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.63% and a return on equity of 40.19%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.81%.

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 transaction of $4,536,505.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,777,590.20. The trade was a 27.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mizuho Bank Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 255.1% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 174 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 54.1% during the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 299 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter valued at $68,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 37.5% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 389 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.