Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Sunday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $257.00 to $283.00 in a report on Monday, August 10th. DA Davidson began coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $320.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Monday, August 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $340.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $307.22.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

NASDAQ LECO opened at $258.32 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $14.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.98. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $268.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $263.22. Lincoln Electric has a fifty-two week low of $216.22 and a fifty-two week high of $310.00.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.23% and a net margin of 12.35%.Lincoln Electric’s revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.60 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Lincoln Electric will post 11.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in Lincoln Electric by 40.5% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 18,561,962 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $656,165,000 after acquiring an additional 5,354,141 shares in the last quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 24,685.8% during the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,839,568 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $956,360,000 after purchasing an additional 3,824,077 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter valued at about $415,155,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the second quarter valued at about $52,700,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,306,641 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $313,175,000 after purchasing an additional 6,070 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Lincoln Electric Company Profile

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc (NASDAQ: LECO) is a Cleveland, Ohio-based manufacturer of welding, cutting and automation products. Founded in 1895 by John C. Lincoln, the company serves industrial, construction, energy, transportation and other end markets that use fabrication and joining technologies.

Its product portfolio includes arc-welding machines, welding consumables such as electrodes and wire, plasma and oxyfuel cutting equipment, robotic welding systems, and related automation solutions.