Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Receives $225.17 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the seven ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $225.17.

LECO has been the topic of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $195.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 8.0% during the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 12,491 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,356,000 after buying an additional 924 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 20.9% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 28,963 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,464,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 8.8% during the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,290 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $238,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 1.2% in the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 200,908 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $37,899,000 after purchasing an additional 2,311 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Impact Partnership Wealth LLC raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 99.2% in the second quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 1,183 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $223,000 after purchasing an additional 589 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LECO opened at $186.15 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $203.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $195.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.20. Lincoln Electric has a 1 year low of $169.51 and a 1 year high of $261.13.

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

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.61%. This is an increase from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.80%.

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.