Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The industrial products company reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.08, Briefing.com reports. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 13.23% and a return on equity of 43.81%. The company had revenue of $981.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.13 EPS. Lincoln Electric’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of LECO opened at $229.94 on Friday. Lincoln Electric has a twelve month low of $156.80 and a twelve month high of $261.13. The company has a market cap of $13.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $248.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $219.75.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 30th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total transaction of $834,202.98. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,308,819.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were 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 approximately $5,554,575.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total transaction of $834,202.98. Following the completion of the sale, 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. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on LECO shares. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Monday, January 8th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $178.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $241.00 to $238.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $257.00 to $252.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $232.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $216.63.

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.