Stifel Nicolaus Trims Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Target Price to $238.00

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) had its price target decreased by Stifel Nicolaus from $241.00 to $238.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a hold rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on LECO. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $232.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $257.00 to $252.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Monday, January 8th. They issued an underweight rating and a $178.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $221.86.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Lincoln Electric stock opened at $229.94 on Friday. Lincoln Electric has a 12-month low of $156.80 and a 12-month high of $261.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $248.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $220.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 1.50.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.08. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 13.23% and a return on equity of 43.81%. The business had revenue of $981.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.13 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Lincoln Electric will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.15%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total transaction of $3,178,719.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 22,402 shares in the company, valued at $5,554,575.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total transaction of $834,202.98. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,308,819.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total transaction of $3,178,719.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 22,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,554,575.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln Electric

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric in the first quarter worth $26,000. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 194.4% in the first quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 106 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 81.1% in the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 172 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. 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.