Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $221.67.

LECO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Lincoln Electric stock opened at $217.09 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market cap of $12.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.91, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $190.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $198.36. Lincoln Electric has a 12-month low of $169.51 and a 12-month high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $983.76 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $988.07 million. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.93% and a return on equity of 40.03%. Lincoln Electric’s revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.40 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric will post 8.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This is a boost from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.89%.

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 11,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,966,880.88. This trade 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 can be accessed through this link. 2.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln Electric

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 6.1% during the third quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,029 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $390,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 23.6% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 9,247 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,776,000 after acquiring an additional 1,767 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at $23,233,000. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 174.4% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 40,242 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,727,000 after acquiring an additional 25,578 shares during the period. Finally, Royce & Associates LP increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 227,134 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $43,614,000 after acquiring an additional 2,906 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

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.