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

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the seven analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $220.00.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on LECO. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 1.0 %

Lincoln Electric stock opened at $209.92 on Tuesday. Lincoln Electric has a 12 month low of $169.51 and a 12 month high of $261.13. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $203.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $195.76. 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 firm has a market cap of $11.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.05, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.16.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $983.76 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $988.07 million. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.03% and a net margin of 11.93%. Lincoln Electric’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.40 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Lincoln Electric will post 8.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.43%. This is an increase from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.80%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LECO. Diversified Trust Co purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,125,000. Elios Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 3rd quarter valued at $999,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 237,935 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $45,688,000 after buying an additional 7,962 shares in the last quarter. BDF Gestion bought a new position in Lincoln Electric in the 2nd quarter worth $1,858,000. Finally, Bridges Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the 2nd quarter worth $834,000. 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.