Oppenheimer Reaffirms “Market Perform” Rating for Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO)

Oppenheimer reaffirmed their market perform rating on shares of Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Monday, January 8th. They set an underweight rating and a $178.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $241.00 to $238.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Lincoln Electric from $232.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Lincoln Electric from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Lincoln Electric from $257.00 to $252.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $221.86.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

LECO opened at $219.33 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. Lincoln Electric has a 12-month low of $164.00 and a 12-month high of $261.13. The business has a 50 day moving average of $247.18 and a 200-day moving average of $220.76. The stock has a market cap of $12.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.28, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.20.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.08. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 43.81% and a net margin of 13.23%. The business had revenue of $981.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric will post 9.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln Electric

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 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Lincoln Electric news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total value of $3,178,719.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 22,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,554,575.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,308,819.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 194.4% in the first quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 106 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in Lincoln Electric during the 1st quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.