Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from six analysts, with four recommending a buy, one a hold, and one a sell.
• KeyCorp and Stifel Nicolaus both upgraded their price targets for the company, with KeyCorp raising it to $280.00 and Stifel Nicolaus to $250.00.
• The company reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings with an EPS of $2.60, surpassing analysts' estimates by $0.28, and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.75 per share.

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" by the six analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $239.3333.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Roth Capital assumed coverage on Lincoln Electric in a report on Friday, September 5th. They set a "buy" rating and a $279.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Lincoln Electric from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ LECO opened at $236.72 on Monday. Lincoln Electric has a one year low of $161.11 and a one year high of $249.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.06 billion, a PE ratio of 26.60, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $238.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $210.31.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last announced 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 return on equity of 39.79% and a net margin of 12.27%.The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.34 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Lincoln Electric will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. Lincoln Electric's payout ratio is currently 33.71%.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In other news, CEO Steven B. Hedlund sold 12,387 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.36, for a total transaction of $3,014,500.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,866 shares in the company, valued at $13,595,549.76. The trade was a 18.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Gabriel Bruno sold 7,305 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.42, for a total value of $1,770,878.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 29,927 shares in the company, valued at $7,254,903.34. The trade was a 19.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 23,692 shares of company stock valued at $5,745,148 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.41% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LECO. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 82.4% in the 2nd quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 155 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 980.8% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 281 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $64,000. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 279.6% in the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 353 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its position in Lincoln Electric by 77.1% in the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 425 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the period. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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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