Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Price Target Cut to $252.00

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) had its price objective decreased by Robert W. Baird from $257.00 to $252.00 in a research note published on Friday, Benzinga reports. Robert W. Baird currently has an outperform rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

LECO has been the topic of several other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $239.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Lincoln Electric in a report on Monday, January 8th. They set an underweight rating and a $178.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Lincoln Electric from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $232.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $221.86.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ LECO opened at $229.94 on Friday. Lincoln Electric has a fifty-two week low of $156.80 and a fifty-two week high of $261.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.24. The company has a market cap of $13.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.41, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $248.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $220.22.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $981.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 13.23% and a return on equity of 43.81%. The firm’s revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Lincoln Electric will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 30th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is 30.15%.

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In other Lincoln Electric news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total transaction of $3,178,719.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 22,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,554,575.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total transaction of $3,178,719.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 22,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,554,575.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total transaction of $834,202.98. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,308,819.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.63% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 194.4% during the first quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 106 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 81.1% in the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 172 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Company Profile

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.