Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Rating Lowered to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Friday.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Roth Capital began coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research report on Friday, September 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $279.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.33.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of Lincoln Electric stock opened at $236.39 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $239.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $211.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.56, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.20. Lincoln Electric has a 52 week low of $161.11 and a 52 week high of $249.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.68.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.32 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 39.79%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.34 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Lincoln Electric will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln Electric

In other news, EVP Jennifer I. Ansberry sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.18, for a total transaction of $726,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 19,173 shares in the company, valued at $4,643,317.14. This represents a 13.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.23, for a total transaction of $233,230.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 9,177 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,140,351.71. This represents a 9.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 23,692 shares of company stock valued at $5,745,148. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LECO. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 19.3% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,178 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $408,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 36.1% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $113,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 9,374 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,779,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Curat Global LLC acquired a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the 1st quarter valued at about $110,000. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. lifted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 22.6% in the 1st quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 72,050 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $13,629,000 after purchasing an additional 13,279 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.