Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Shares Gap Down to $227.12

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) shares gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $227.12, but opened at $220.00. Lincoln Electric shares last traded at $207.76, with a volume of 176,724 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on LECO shares. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Lincoln Electric from $252.00 to $236.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research report on Monday, April 29th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on Lincoln Electric from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $241.00 to $238.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Loop Capital cut their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $225.29.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 1.5 %

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $237.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $226.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a current ratio of 2.24. The firm has a market cap of $11.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.23.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $981.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 13.23% and a return on equity of 43.81%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.13 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, June 30th will be issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln Electric

In other news, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total value of $834,202.98. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,308,819.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 11.7% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 16,800 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,291,000 after acquiring an additional 1,765 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 202.8% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 31,221 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $7,975,000 after purchasing an additional 20,911 shares in the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 93,748 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $23,947,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $385,000. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 52.1% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 26,764 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,837,000 after buying an additional 9,164 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.