Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eight brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $228.00.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on LECO shares. Robert W. Baird reduced 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 report on Friday, April 26th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $241.00 to $238.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $232.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 9.5 %

LECO opened at $205.57 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $238.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $226.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 1.49. Lincoln Electric has a one year low of $164.00 and a one year high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $981.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 13.23% and a return on equity of 43.81%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.13 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 30th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total value of $834,202.98. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,308,819.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 15,062 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 7.0% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,856,125 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $474,129,000 after purchasing an additional 121,914 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter worth about $336,627,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 19.9% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,049,854 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $190,853,000 after purchasing an additional 174,278 shares during the period. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 687,841 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $149,578,000 after purchasing an additional 67,867 shares during the period. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.