Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

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

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on LECO. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $179.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on 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 Lincoln Electric from $178.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Lincoln Electric from $242.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $206.40.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 2.5%

LECO traded up $4.75 during trading on Friday, reaching $196.27. 350,124 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 330,589. The stock has a market cap of $10.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. 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 0.87, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $185.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $195.08.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.22 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $365.45 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $974.39 million. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 11.63%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.23 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Lincoln Electric will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter worth $307,344,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter valued at about $110,062,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the fourth quarter valued at about $92,117,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 15,932.5% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 336,682 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $63,118,000 after purchasing an additional 334,582 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Lincoln Electric by 22,146.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 291,874 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $55,211,000 after buying an additional 290,562 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.