Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Price Target Raised to $230.00 at KeyCorp

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) had its price target increased by KeyCorp from $210.00 to $230.00 in a research note published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

LECO has been the topic of several other reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $220.00.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 0.8 %

Lincoln Electric stock traded down $1.74 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $205.77. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 132,504 shares, compared to its average volume of 318,092. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $193.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $197.63. Lincoln Electric has a 12 month low of $169.51 and a 12 month high of $261.13. The stock has a market cap of $11.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.20.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $983.76 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $988.07 million. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.03% and a net margin of 11.93%. Lincoln Electric’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.40 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric will post 8.78 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.89%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total value of $193,556.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,966,880.88. The trade was a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln Electric

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 65.7% during the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 1,697 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $434,000 after buying an additional 673 shares during the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 2.4% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 63,855 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $16,311,000 after acquiring an additional 1,478 shares during the period. Councilmark Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric in the first quarter worth about $1,943,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 62.7% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 65,079 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $16,442,000 after purchasing an additional 25,082 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,709,315 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,458,387,000 after purchasing an additional 15,062 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.