Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Upgraded at StockNews.com

by · The Cerbat Gem

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO – Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on LECO. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $209.00 to $213.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $226.33.

View Our Latest Stock Report on Lincoln Electric

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LECO opened at $191.50 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $189.77 and a 200-day moving average of $206.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 2.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. Lincoln Electric has a twelve month low of $164.00 and a twelve month high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 42.24%. Lincoln Electric’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.44 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric will post 8.95 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln Electric

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total transaction of $193,556.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,966,880.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 54.3% in the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 21,939 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,604,000 after purchasing an additional 7,718 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 62.7% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 65,079 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $16,442,000 after purchasing an additional 25,082 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 21.1% during the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 45,409 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $11,593,000 after acquiring an additional 7,922 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 28.4% during the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 126,573 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,525,000 after acquiring an additional 27,989 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 0.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,709,315 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,458,387,000 after acquiring an additional 15,062 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lincoln Electric Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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