Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) PT Lowered to $265.00 at Loop Capital

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) had its price objective lowered by Loop Capital from $285.00 to $265.00 in a research note released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Oppenheimer reissued a market perform rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Monday, April 29th. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $241.00 to $238.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $252.00 to $236.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $225.29.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 1.5 %

NASDAQ:LECO traded down $3.10 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $202.47. 600,192 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 342,301. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 1.49. The firm has a market cap of $11.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.49, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.23. Lincoln Electric has a 52-week low of $164.00 and a 52-week high of $261.13. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $237.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $226.31.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $981.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 13.23% and a return on equity of 43.81%. Lincoln Electric’s revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.13 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Lincoln Electric will post 9.6 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total value of $834,202.98. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,308,819.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $336,627,000. Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 424,831 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp acquired a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the 3rd quarter valued at $34,850,000. CM Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in 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 valued at $39,040,000 after purchasing an additional 178,254 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 19.9% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,049,854 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $190,853,000 after acquiring an additional 174,278 shares during the period. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.