Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at StockNews.com

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Monday.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $221.67.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 2.5 %

NASDAQ:LECO opened at $203.79 on Monday. Lincoln Electric has a 12-month low of $169.51 and a 12-month high of $261.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $189.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $198.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.14.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.09. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.93% and a return on equity of 40.03%. The firm had revenue of $983.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $988.07 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.40 EPS. Lincoln Electric’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Lincoln Electric will post 8.78 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total transaction of $193,556.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,966,880.88. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. MQS Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the third quarter valued at $632,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Lincoln Electric by 81.9% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,097,965 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $210,831,000 after acquiring an additional 494,464 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 19,879 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,817,000 after acquiring an additional 2,642 shares in the last quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 22.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd now owns 8,300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,594,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 5.0% in the third quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 2,360 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $453,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. 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.