Brokerages Set Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Target Price at $210.50

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eight analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $210.50.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on LECO shares. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Monday, January 8th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $178.00 target price on the stock. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $232.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $239.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 0.9 %

LECO opened at $237.61 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.24. Lincoln Electric has a fifty-two week low of $155.21 and a fifty-two week high of $261.13. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $248.94 and its 200 day moving average is $219.25. The stock has a market cap of $13.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.20.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The industrial products company reported $2.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.26. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 13.01% and a return on equity of 45.09%. The company had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.94 EPS. Lincoln Electric’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric will post 9.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 30th will be issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.31%.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In other news, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total value of $834,202.98. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,308,819.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total transaction of $3,178,719.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 22,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,554,575.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total transaction of $834,202.98. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,150 shares in the company, valued at $2,308,819.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LECO. CWM LLC grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 170.9% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,330 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $242,000 after purchasing an additional 839 shares during the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 128.6% during the 3rd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,969 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,994,000 after purchasing an additional 6,171 shares during the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 4,709.1% during the 3rd quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 529 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $96,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 439.4% during the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 739 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $134,000 after purchasing an additional 602 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Naples Global Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 342.3% during the 3rd quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 6,564 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,197,000 after purchasing an additional 5,080 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.