Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $233.60.

LECO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LECO opened at $207.27 on Friday. Lincoln Electric has a 12-month low of $169.51 and a 12-month high of $261.13. The company has a market capitalization of $11.70 billion, a PE ratio of 25.43, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a 50 day moving average of $194.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $196.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

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

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is 36.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Trading of Lincoln Electric

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LECO. Mizuho Bank Ltd. purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 255.1% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 174 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 54.1% in the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 299 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 308.5% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 335 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HM Payson & Co. purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at $65,000. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.