Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $209.00 to $213.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $221.67.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of LECO opened at $194.71 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 2.06 and a quick ratio of 1.31. The stock has a market cap of $11.08 billion, a PE ratio of 20.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.14. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $188.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $202.91. Lincoln Electric has a 1-year low of $164.00 and a 1-year high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.44 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric will post 8.95 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total transaction of $193,556.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,178 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,966,880.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 0.8% in the third quarter. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO now owns 14,830 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,848,000 after buying an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 4,936 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $948,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 4.2% during the third quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC now owns 191,113 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $36,698,000 after purchasing an additional 7,685 shares during the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 4.2% in the third quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 21,034 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,039,000 after purchasing an additional 855 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 4.8% in the third quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 1,303 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $250,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.