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

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

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on LECO. Barclays increased their target price on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price 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. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. 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 report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Lincoln Electric from $178.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $206.40.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Lincoln Electric stock traded up $2.89 on Friday, hitting $195.33. The company's stock had a trading volume of 303,114 shares, compared to its average volume of 328,727. The firm has a market cap of $10.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $186.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $194.91. Lincoln Electric has a one year low of $161.11 and a one year high of $222.52.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,601,734 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,050,157,000 after purchasing an additional 18,805 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,735,527 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $325,359,000 after purchasing an additional 234,515 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter valued at about $307,344,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 16.2% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,351,223 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $255,597,000 after acquiring an additional 188,104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,235,582 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $231,691,000 after acquiring an additional 31,033 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is 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.