KeyCorp Increases Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Price Target to $280.00

Key Points

• KeyCorp has raised its price target for Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00, indicating a potential upside of 17.30% based on the company's previous close.
• The latest analyst ratings show a mixed outlook for Lincoln Electric, with a consensus rating of "Hold" and a target price of $228.60 from various research reports.
• Lincoln Electric reported a quarterly net margin of 11.44% and earnings per share of $2.60, surpassing the consensus estimate of $2.32, along with year-over-year revenue growth of 6.6%.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) had its price target upped by investment analysts at KeyCorp from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "overweight" rating on the industrial products company's stock. KeyCorp's price objective points to a potential upside of 17.30% from the company's previous close.

LECO has been the subject of several other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Lincoln Electric from $180.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Lincoln Electric from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $228.60.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LECO opened at $238.71 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $210.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $198.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. Lincoln Electric has a twelve month low of $161.11 and a twelve month high of $244.30.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.32 by $0.28. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.44% and a net margin of 11.44%. The business had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.34 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln Electric

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LECO. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 75.0% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,811 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $721,000 after buying an additional 1,633 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in Lincoln Electric by 17.2% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,035 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $385,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 7.2% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,609 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,250,000 after acquiring an additional 442 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 0.3% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 131,378 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $24,851,000 after acquiring an additional 353 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 88.4% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,912 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $551,000 after acquiring an additional 1,366 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.

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