Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Receives $226.33 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $221.67.

Several equities research analysts have commented on LECO shares. StockNews.com downgraded Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of LECO stock opened at $203.10 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $11.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.56, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.14. The business’s fifty day moving average is $189.19 and its 200 day moving average is $202.54. Lincoln Electric has a twelve month low of $164.00 and a twelve month high of $261.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 2.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.04. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 42.24% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.44 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric will post 8.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 11,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,966,880.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln Electric

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its position in Lincoln Electric by 54.3% during the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 21,939 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,604,000 after acquiring an additional 7,718 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its position in Lincoln Electric by 62.7% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 65,079 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $16,442,000 after buying an additional 25,082 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its position in Lincoln Electric by 21.1% in the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 45,409 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $11,593,000 after buying an additional 7,922 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Lincoln Electric by 0.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,709,315 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,458,387,000 after buying an additional 15,062 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in Lincoln Electric by 142.9% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 13,702 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,500,000 after buying an additional 8,061 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.