Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One 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 twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $225.17.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on LECO shares. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $195.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln Electric

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 97.9% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 283 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 41.5% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Lincoln Electric by 308.5% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 335 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. HM Payson & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at $65,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 60.2% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 423 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of LECO stock opened at $189.86 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. Lincoln Electric has a 12 month low of $169.51 and a 12 month high of $261.13. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $204.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $195.76.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.09. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.93% and a return on equity of 40.03%. The firm had revenue of $983.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $988.07 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Lincoln Electric will post 8.74 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.75 dividend. This is an increase 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 1.58%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is presently 35.80%.

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.