Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $220.00.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LECO opened at $216.08 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $201.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $195.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.20. Lincoln Electric has a one year low of $169.51 and a one year high of $261.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.19 billion, a PE ratio of 25.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.16.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.09. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.93% and a return on equity of 40.03%. The firm had revenue of $983.76 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $988.07 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.40 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric will post 8.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.39%. This is a positive change from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is 33.89%.

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total transaction of $193,556.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,178 shares in the company, valued at $1,966,880.88. This represents a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln Electric

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in LECO. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 1st quarter worth approximately $385,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 174.4% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 107 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. BDF Gestion acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,858,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 87.9% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 25,099 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,735,000 after acquiring an additional 11,741 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 106.3% during the 2nd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 1,725 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $325,000 after acquiring an additional 889 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.