Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Thursday.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on LECO. Loop Capital decreased their price target on Lincoln Electric from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 24th. KeyCorp decreased their price target on Lincoln Electric from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Lincoln Electric from $209.00 to $213.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $218.29.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of LECO stock opened at $175.06 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $194.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $215.59. Lincoln Electric has a twelve month low of $164.00 and a twelve month high of $261.13. The company has a market capitalization of $9.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 2.06, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.04. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 42.24% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.44 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric will post 9.07 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.62%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.15%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LECO. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter worth $336,627,000. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 48.0% in the second quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,747,083 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $518,210,000 after acquiring an additional 891,111 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 2,984.6% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 439,065 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $95,479,000 after purchasing an additional 424,831 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 7.0% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,856,125 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $474,129,000 after purchasing an additional 121,914 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 204.0% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 138,331 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $26,095,000 after purchasing an additional 92,820 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.