Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Receives Average Recommendation of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from five analysts, with an average price target of $231.40.
• Recent insider selling was noted, with executives selling shares at prices around $242, resulting in significant decreases in their positions.
• The company has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.75 per share, to be paid on October 15th, representing a 1.2% dividend yield.

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of "Hold" by the five analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $231.40.

LECO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lincoln Electric news, EVP Jennifer I. Ansberry sold 3,000 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.18, for a total transaction of $726,540.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 19,173 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,643,317.14. This trade represents a 13.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Gabriel Bruno sold 7,305 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.42, for a total transaction of $1,770,878.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 29,927 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,254,903.34. This trade represents a 19.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.41% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 2nd quarter valued at $354,063,000. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 2nd quarter valued at $141,550,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 439.8% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 596,617 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $123,691,000 after purchasing an additional 486,090 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 22,146.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 291,874 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $55,211,000 after purchasing an additional 290,562 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 16.2% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,351,223 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $255,597,000 after purchasing an additional 188,104 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company's stock.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 0.5%

Lincoln Electric stock opened at $240.85 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.68. The firm has a market cap of $13.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.22. Lincoln Electric has a 1 year low of $161.11 and a 1 year high of $249.19. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $230.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $206.02.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.32 by $0.28. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 39.79%. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.34 EPS. The company's revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Lincoln Electric will post 9.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.71%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.