Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Stifel Nicolaus Analyst Says

Key Points

• Stifel Nicolaus raised Lincoln Electric's price target from $236.00 to $250.00, indicating a potential upside of 4.30% from its previous close.
• Lincoln Electric reported earnings of $2.60 per share, surpassing the consensus estimate of $2.32, with revenues of $1.09 billion during the last quarter.
• The company's stock currently holds a consensus rating of "Hold" from research analysts, with one sell rating, two hold ratings, and three buy ratings.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) had its price objective hoisted by Stifel Nicolaus from $236.00 to $250.00 in a research note released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a hold rating on the industrial products company's stock.

LECO has been the topic of a number of other reports. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $231.40.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 0.4%

LECO traded down $0.98 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $242.87. 108,276 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 351,202. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $212.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $199.24. The company has a market cap of $13.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.23, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.21. Lincoln Electric has a fifty-two week low of $161.11 and a fifty-two week high of $246.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.08.

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, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.34 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.71%.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln Electric

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mizuho Bank Ltd. bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 980.8% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 281 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 279.6% during the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 353 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the period. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter worth approximately $68,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.