Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Downgraded by StockNews.com

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) was downgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Loop Capital dropped their target price on Lincoln Electric from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $209.00 to $213.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $218.29.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LECO opened at $175.06 on Thursday. Lincoln Electric has a one year low of $164.00 and a one year high of $261.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 2.06 and a quick ratio of 1.31. The company has a market cap of $9.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.58, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.15. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $194.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $216.03.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.04. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 42.24%. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.44 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Lincoln Electric will post 9.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LECO. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter worth about $336,627,000. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 48.0% in the second quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,747,083 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $518,210,000 after purchasing an additional 891,111 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 2,984.6% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 439,065 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $95,479,000 after purchasing an additional 424,831 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 7.0% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,856,125 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $474,129,000 after buying an additional 121,914 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 204.0% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 138,331 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $26,095,000 after buying an additional 92,820 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

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.