Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on LECO. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $178.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $206.40.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 1.0%

LECO traded down $2.11 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $209.27. 1,389,876 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 322,684. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $194.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $193.48. The company has a market cap of $11.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.80, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.20. Lincoln Electric has a fifty-two week low of $161.11 and a fifty-two week high of $222.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.19.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.22 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $365.45 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $974.39 million. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.44% and a return on equity of 39.44%. Lincoln Electric's revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.23 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Lincoln Electric's dividend payout ratio is currently 36.99%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LECO. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 17.2% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,035 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $385,000 after buying an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 5,262 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $986,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 358,331 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $67,176,000 after buying an additional 2,088 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 255.1% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 174 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter worth about $5,623,000. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.