Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Now Covered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO – Get Rating) in a research report released on Thursday. The firm issued a hold rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

LECO has been the subject of several other research reports. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $167.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, January 26th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $149.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Friday, January 20th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $174.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Tuesday, February 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $149.00 to $151.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $164.25.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LECO traded down $2.20 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $160.59. The stock had a trading volume of 1,155,796 shares, compared to its average volume of 438,946. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $166.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $148.70. Lincoln Electric has a 12-month low of $118.17 and a 12-month high of $176.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market cap of $9.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.14.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 21st. The industrial products company reported $1.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.04. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.56% and a return on equity of 52.02%. The firm had revenue of $930.93 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $924.20 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.61 EPS. Lincoln Electric’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Lincoln Electric will post 8.66 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 30th. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.59%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.80%.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln Electric

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. BDO Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric during the first quarter worth $35,000. Money Concepts Capital Corp raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 68.0% in the fourth quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp now owns 257 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the third quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 33.2% during the third quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 305 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.25% of the company’s stock.

About Lincoln Electric

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Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc engages in the manufacture of arc welding equipment, consumable welding products and other welding and cutting products. Its welding products include arc welding power sources, wire feeding systems, robotic welding packages, fume extraction equipment, consumable electrodes and fluxes.