Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the six research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $233.60.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on LECO shares. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total value of $4,536,505.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,777,590.20. This trade represents a 27.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $68,000. Parr Mcknight Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter valued at about $848,000. Woodline Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter valued at about $551,000. Sovereign s Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,772,000. Finally, Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter valued at about $337,000. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 3.6 %

Shares of Lincoln Electric stock opened at $190.47 on Thursday. Lincoln Electric has a 1 year low of $169.51 and a 1 year high of $261.13. The company has a market capitalization of $10.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $197.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $197.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 1.25.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.54. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 11.63%. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $995.94 million. Research analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is presently 36.81%.

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.