Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Shares Gap Up After Earnings Beat

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock had previously closed at $194.00, but opened at $217.87. Lincoln Electric shares last traded at $219.21, with a volume of 112,316 shares trading hands.

The industrial products company reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.54. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.93% and a return on equity of 40.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LECO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $229.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,601,734 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,050,157,000 after acquiring an additional 18,805 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,462,232 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $474,527,000 after buying an additional 280,466 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,735,527 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $325,359,000 after buying an additional 234,515 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter valued at about $307,344,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,235,582 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $231,691,000 after buying an additional 31,033 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 10.2 %

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’s 50-day moving average is $194.36 and its 200-day moving average is $195.82. The stock has a market cap of $12.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.18.

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.