Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Price Target Lowered to $238.00 at Stifel Nicolaus

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) had its price objective reduced by analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $241.00 to $238.00 in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “hold” rating on the industrial products company’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ target price would suggest a potential upside of 3.83% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $232.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $257.00 to $252.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research report on Monday, January 8th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $178.00 price objective for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $216.63.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LECO traded up $1.28 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $229.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 115,511 shares, compared to its average volume of 279,228. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.24. Lincoln Electric has a fifty-two week low of $156.80 and a fifty-two week high of $261.13. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $249.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $219.38. The company has a market cap of $13.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.20.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.08. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 13.01% and a return on equity of 45.09%. The business had revenue of $981.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In related news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 22,402 shares in the company, valued at $5,554,575.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,308,819.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 22,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,554,575.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln Electric

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the first quarter valued at $26,000. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its position in Lincoln Electric by 194.4% during the first quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 106 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in Lincoln Electric by 81.1% during the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 172 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Institutional investors 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.