Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 883,000 shares, a decline of 5.0% from the December 15th total of 929,600 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 285,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.1 days. Approximately 1.6% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:LECO opened at $194.32 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $200.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $195.99. The stock has a market cap of $10.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. Lincoln Electric has a 12 month low of $169.51 and a 12 month high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.09. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.03% and a net margin of 11.93%. The company had revenue of $983.76 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $988.07 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Lincoln Electric will post 8.74 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LECO. Elios Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $999,000. Vestcor Inc raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 85.5% during the third quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 8,180 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,571,000 after buying an additional 3,771 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 3.5% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 237,935 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $45,688,000 after acquiring an additional 7,962 shares during the last quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the second quarter valued at $834,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the second quarter valued at $3,042,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LECO has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. KeyCorp increased 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Lincoln Electric from $195.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $230.75.

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.