Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Sets New 52-Week High on Analyst Upgrade

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) shares reached a new 52-week high on Monday after Wall Street Zen upgraded the stock from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating. The stock traded as high as $244.41 and last traded at $244.36, with a volume of 89566 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $241.14.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $231.40.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 1.7% in the first quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT now owns 3,208 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $607,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 12.2% in the first quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 553 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $105,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 1.9% in the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,354 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $695,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.6% in 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 during the period. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.6% in the first quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 11,541 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,183,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 1.1%

The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market cap of $13.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.21. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $212.40 and its 200 day moving average is $199.24.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.32 by $0.28. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 39.79%. The business had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.34 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.71%.

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.