Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on LECO. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $209.00 to $213.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Oppenheimer reissued a market perform rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Monday, April 29th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on Lincoln Electric from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 24th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $213.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their target price on Lincoln Electric from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $219.43.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

NASDAQ LECO traded up $0.57 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $189.65. 212,471 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 342,521. The company has a quick ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 2.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.15. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $192.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $221.45. Lincoln Electric has a 1 year low of $164.00 and a 1 year high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 42.24% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.44 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric will post 9.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.15%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT raised its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 58,796 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $11,091,000 after purchasing an additional 1,315 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 1,755.5% in the second quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 45,849 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,649,000 after acquiring an additional 43,378 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the second quarter worth about $3,042,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 7.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 525,647 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $99,155,000 after purchasing an additional 38,206 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 12.5% in the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,576 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,240,000 after purchasing an additional 730 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.