Brokerages Set Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) PT 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 reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $210.50.

LECO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Stifel Nicolaus raised 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. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Monday, January 8th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $178.00 price target on the stock. Finally, KeyCorp raised 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.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Lincoln Electric stock opened at $237.61 on Monday. Lincoln Electric has a 12-month low of $155.21 and a 12-month high of $261.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $248.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $219.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 1.50.

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

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. 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 is currently 30.31%.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Trading of Lincoln Electric

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LECO. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,734,211 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $377,122,000 after purchasing an additional 12,773 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter worth $336,627,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 19.9% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,049,854 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $190,853,000 after purchasing an additional 174,278 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 8.9% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 721,598 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $131,179,000 after purchasing an additional 58,695 shares during the period. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 687,841 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $149,578,000 after purchasing an additional 67,867 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Company Profile

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.