Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Price Target Cut to $252.00 by Analysts at Robert W. Baird

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) had its price objective decreased by Robert W. Baird from $257.00 to $252.00 in a research report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Robert W. Baird currently has an outperform rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on LECO. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $232.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $239.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Lincoln Electric in a report on Monday, January 8th. They issued an underweight rating and a $178.00 price objective on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $216.63.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ LECO opened at $229.94 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $13.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.41, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $248.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $219.44. Lincoln Electric has a fifty-two week low of $156.80 and a fifty-two week high of $261.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.24.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Lincoln Electric will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.15%.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In other news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was 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 $5,554,575.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total value of $3,178,719.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 22,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,554,575.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of LECO. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter valued at $336,627,000. Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2,984.6% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 439,065 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $95,479,000 after purchasing an additional 424,831 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,850,000. CM Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 25,909.0% during the 4th quarter. CM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 178,942 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $39,040,000 after purchasing an additional 178,254 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,049,854 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $190,853,000 after purchasing an additional 174,278 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

About Lincoln Electric

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.