Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Earns Market Perform Rating from Oppenheimer

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO)‘s stock had its “market perform” rating restated by Oppenheimer in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on LECO. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $232.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $241.00 to $238.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $257.00 to $252.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Monday, January 8th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $178.00 target price for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $221.86.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 2.5 %

LECO stock opened at $219.53 on Monday. Lincoln Electric has a twelve month low of $164.00 and a twelve month high of $261.13. The company has a market cap of $12.49 billion, a PE ratio of 23.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $247.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $220.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.08. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 43.81% and a net margin of 13.23%. The business had revenue of $981.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.13 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total transaction of $834,202.98. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,308,819.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total transaction of $834,202.98. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,308,819.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total transaction of $3,178,719.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 22,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,554,575.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln Electric

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 37.7% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 23,962 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,121,000 after acquiring an additional 6,565 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 1st quarter valued at $859,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 16,437 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,199,000 after buying an additional 1,452 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 1,317 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $336,000 after buying an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 3,147.8% in the 1st quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,241 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $573,000 after buying an additional 2,172 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

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.