Stifel Nicolaus Cuts Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Price Target to $211.00

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) had its price objective lowered by Stifel Nicolaus from $216.00 to $211.00 in a research note released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a hold rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on LECO. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $229.50.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of LECO opened at $197.27 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.85. The company has a market capitalization of $11.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.54, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.18. Lincoln Electric has a 1 year low of $169.51 and a 1 year high of $261.13. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $199.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $196.46.

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. The company had revenue of $983.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.40 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Lincoln Electric will post 8.74 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 97.9% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 283 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 41.5% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted 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 purchasing an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. HM Payson & Co. bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at about $65,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 60.2% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 423 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Lincoln Electric

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.