Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $233.60.

Several research analysts recently commented on LECO shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln Electric

In other news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 21,054 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.47, for a total transaction of $4,536,505.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,777,590.20. The trade was a 27.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LECO. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 7,326 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,407,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 60.2% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 423 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 18.0% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 4,559 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $875,000 after purchasing an additional 695 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the 3rd quarter worth $207,000. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 31.7% during the 3rd quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 4,575 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $878,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of LECO opened at $190.98 on Thursday. Lincoln Electric has a twelve month low of $169.51 and a twelve month high of $261.13. The company has a market cap of $10.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $197.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $196.99.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.54. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.63% and a return on equity of 40.19%. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.94 million. As a group, analysts expect that Lincoln Electric will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.81%.

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.