Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Rating Lowered to Hold at Wall Street Zen

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

LECO has been the topic of several other research reports. DA Davidson started coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $320.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $257.00 to $283.00 in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Monday, August 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $340.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $307.22.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of LECO opened at $261.13 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.09, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.20. Lincoln Electric has a one year low of $216.22 and a one year high of $310.00. The business has a fifty day moving average of $272.48 and a 200 day moving average of $263.75.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.22 billion for 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.60 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric will post 11.18 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln Electric

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LECO. GK Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the third quarter worth about $138,000. Riversedge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC now owns 2,400 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $635,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital purchased a new position in Lincoln Electric in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $206,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,389 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $632,000 after purchasing an additional 449 shares during the period. Finally, Bell Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in Lincoln Electric in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,800,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

About Lincoln Electric

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc is a Cleveland, Ohio-based manufacturer of welding, cutting and industrial automation products. The company serves manufacturers, fabricators, construction companies, maintenance and repair operations, utilities, and other industrial customers.

Its product portfolio includes arc-welding equipment, welding consumables such as electrodes and welding wire, plasma-cutting systems, welding accessories, and related safety products. Lincoln Electric also provides automated and robotic welding systems, engineered solutions, training, and technical support.