Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $229.50.

LECO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 97.9% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 283 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 41.5% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 308.5% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 335 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. HM Payson & Co. acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $65,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 60.2% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 423 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of LECO stock opened at $196.15 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $198.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $196.48. Lincoln Electric has a 12 month low of $169.51 and a 12 month high of $261.13. The company has a market capitalization of $11.07 billion, a PE ratio of 23.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.18.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.09. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.93% and a return on equity of 40.03%. The company had revenue of $983.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $988.07 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.40 earnings per share. Lincoln Electric’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Lincoln Electric will post 8.74 earnings per share for the current year.

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.