Analysts Set Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Price Target at $225.29

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the nine analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $225.29.

LECO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Monday, April 29th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 24th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $241.00 to $238.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 24th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC now owns 181,094 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $39,381,000 after buying an additional 4,770 shares in the last quarter. Telos Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter worth about $925,000. Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2,984.6% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 439,065 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $95,479,000 after buying an additional 424,831 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 28.4% during the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 126,573 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,525,000 after buying an additional 27,989 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter worth about $13,377,000. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of LECO stock opened at $188.18 on Friday. Lincoln Electric has a fifty-two week low of $164.00 and a fifty-two week high of $261.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a current ratio of 2.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $201.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $223.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.98, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.15.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.13 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric will post 9.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 30th will be given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.15%.

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.