Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Given New $245.00 Price Target at KeyCorp

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) had its price target boosted by equities researchers at KeyCorp from $230.00 to $245.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the industrial products company’s stock. KeyCorp’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 14.58% from the stock’s current price.

LECO has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $233.25.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of LECO stock opened at $213.82 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $194.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $195.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. Lincoln Electric has a 12 month low of $169.51 and a 12 month high of $261.13. The company has a market capitalization of $12.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.18.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.54. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.03% and a net margin of 11.93%. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.94 million. As a group, equities analysts expect that Lincoln Electric will post 8.72 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Elios Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the 3rd quarter valued at $999,000. Vestcor Inc increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 85.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 8,180 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,571,000 after purchasing an additional 3,771 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 28.7% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 431 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 237,935 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $45,688,000 after purchasing an additional 7,962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the 3rd quarter valued at $499,000. 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.