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

Key Points

• Lincoln Electric has been upgraded from a "buy" to a "strong-buy" rating by analysts at Wall Street Zen, reflecting positive sentiment towards the company.
• Several other firms have also provided favorable ratings and increased price targets for the stock, with an average target price now set at $239.33.
• The company's recent earnings report showed better-than-expected performance, with $2.60 earnings per share and revenue exceeding estimates, indicating strong operational growth.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Roth Capital started coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research report on Friday, September 5th. They set a "buy" rating and a $279.00 price objective on the stock. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Lincoln Electric from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $239.33.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 3.0%

Shares of LECO stock opened at $227.93 on Friday. Lincoln Electric has a 12-month low of $161.11 and a 12-month high of $249.19. 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 firm's 50 day moving average is $239.60 and its 200 day moving average is $212.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.20.

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

Insider Activity

In other Lincoln Electric news, EVP Gabriel Bruno sold 7,305 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 29,927 shares in the company, valued at $7,254,903.34. This trade represents a 19.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,000 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.23, for a total transaction of $233,230.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 9,177 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,140,351.71. This represents a 9.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 23,692 shares of company stock valued at $5,745,148 over the last three months. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 3.9% in the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,156 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $240,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.8% in the second quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,752 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $363,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 8.7% in the second quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 601 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $125,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Claret Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 5.0% in the second quarter. Claret Asset Management Corp now owns 1,112 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $231,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT now owns 3,208 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $607,000 after acquiring an additional 54 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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