Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Price Target Lowered to $178.00 at Stifel Nicolaus

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) had its price target trimmed by Stifel Nicolaus from $220.00 to $178.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a hold rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Barclays raised their price target on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $227.00.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ LECO opened at $179.95 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.08, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Lincoln Electric has a twelve month low of $161.11 and a twelve month high of $243.04. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $194.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $197.22.

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

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is currently 36.81%.

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In related news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $11,777,590.20. This represents a 27.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LECO. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the first quarter valued at approximately $215,000. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 67.0% in the 1st quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 6,446 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,219,000 after purchasing an additional 2,585 shares in the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the first quarter worth $222,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.6% during the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 2,541 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $481,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 92.5% during the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 749 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $142,000 after buying an additional 360 shares during the last quarter. 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.