Brokerages Set Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Target Price at $225.17

Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $225.17.

LECO has been the subject of several research reports. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. StockNews.com raised Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $195.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th.

Lincoln Electric Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of LECO stock opened at $188.24 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $10.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. Lincoln Electric has a fifty-two week low of $169.51 and a fifty-two week high of $261.13. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $204.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $195.89.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.09. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.93% and a return on equity of 40.03%. The firm had revenue of $983.76 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $988.07 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.40 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric will post 8.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.59%. This is an increase from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is currently 35.80%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 48.0% during the 2nd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,747,083 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $518,210,000 after acquiring an additional 891,111 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Lincoln Electric by 12.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,462,232 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $474,527,000 after purchasing an additional 280,466 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 5.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,204,549 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $231,345,000 after purchasing an additional 61,640 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 81.9% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,097,965 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $210,831,000 after purchasing an additional 494,464 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 7.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 525,647 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $99,155,000 after buying an additional 38,206 shares during the period. 79.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.