Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) PT Lowered to $236.00 at Robert W. Baird

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) had its price target cut by Robert W. Baird from $252.00 to $236.00 in a research note released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on LECO. KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Lincoln Electric from $241.00 to $238.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated a market perform rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Monday, April 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $225.29.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of LECO stock opened at $202.47 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $237.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $226.94. Lincoln Electric has a twelve month low of $164.00 and a twelve month high of $261.13. 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 company has a market capitalization of $11.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.49, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.23.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $981.20 million for 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $2.13 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Lincoln Electric will post 9.57 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in LECO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 0.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,709,315 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,458,387,000 after buying an additional 15,062 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 7.0% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,856,125 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $474,129,000 after purchasing an additional 121,914 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $336,627,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 174,278 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 10.9% in the 4th quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 687,841 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $149,578,000 after buying an additional 67,867 shares during the period. 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.