Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO – Get Rating) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the six analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $164.25.

Several research analysts have weighed in on LECO shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $174.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 21st. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $167.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 26th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $149.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $149.00 to $151.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 22nd.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ LECO opened at $160.59 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $166.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $148.63. The company has a market cap of $9.25 billion, a PE ratio of 19.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.14. Lincoln Electric has a 52-week low of $118.17 and a 52-week high of $176.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.83.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO – Get Rating) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $930.93 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $924.20 million. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.56% and a return on equity of 52.02%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.61 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric will post 8.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Trading of Lincoln Electric

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LECO. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,954,544 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $748,605,000 after buying an additional 63,007 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,200,068 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $716,620,000 after buying an additional 38,059 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,958,667 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $373,594,000 after buying an additional 59,991 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,844,640 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $231,908,000 after buying an additional 70,254 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 938,671 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $135,628,000 after purchasing an additional 17,846 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.25% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Company Profile

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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.