Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $247.00.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on LECO. KeyCorp raised their price objective 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. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen cut Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Barclays increased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s 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 directly owned 9,177 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,140,351.71. This trade represents a 9.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 12,387 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.36, for a total value of $3,014,500.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,595,549.76. This trade represents a 18.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 2.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln Electric

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quent Capital LLC bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 3,700.0% during the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 114 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 82.4% in the second quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 155 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 3,860.0% in the third quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 198 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LECO opened at $220.85 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $12.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.81, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.24. 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 business’s 50-day moving average price is $235.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $223.24. Lincoln Electric has a twelve month low of $161.11 and a twelve month high of $249.19.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.05 billion. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.79% and a net margin of 12.27%.Lincoln Electric’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.14 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Lincoln Electric will post 9.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.79 dividend. This is a positive change from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.83%.

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.