Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Price Target Lowered to $178.00 at Stifel Nicolaus

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) had its price target lowered by Stifel Nicolaus from $220.00 to $178.00 in a research report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a hold rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $227.00.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of LECO opened at $179.95 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $194.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $197.22. The firm has a market cap of $10.08 billion, a PE ratio of 22.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Lincoln Electric has a 1-year low of $161.11 and a 1-year high of $243.04.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.54. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $995.94 million. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 11.63%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.67%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.81%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lincoln Electric news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total value of $4,536,505.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 54,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,777,590.20. This represents a 27.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln Electric

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LECO. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 21,199 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,974,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,737 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 806 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $151,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 2.6% during the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 2,541 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $481,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,634 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,813,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. 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.