Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Raised to Buy at StockNews.com

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Friday.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $221.67.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of LECO opened at $193.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 2.06 and a quick ratio of 1.31. The stock has a market cap of $10.98 billion, a PE ratio of 21.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.14. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $189.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $200.40. Lincoln Electric has a 1-year low of $164.63 and a 1-year high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 42.24%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.44 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric will post 8.78 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total transaction of $193,556.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,966,880.88. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 0.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,709,315 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,458,387,000 after buying an additional 15,062 shares in the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. raised its position in Lincoln Electric by 48.0% during the second quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,747,083 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $518,210,000 after acquiring an additional 891,111 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,856,125 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $474,129,000 after purchasing an additional 121,914 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 7.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 525,647 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $99,155,000 after buying an additional 38,206 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 18,413.8% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 258,267 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $49,592,000 after purchasing an additional 256,872 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

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.