Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Price Target Cut to $236.00

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) had its price objective decreased by Robert W. Baird from $252.00 to $236.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Robert W. Baird currently has an outperform rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on LECO. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Lincoln Electric from $241.00 to $238.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. KeyCorp cut their price target on Lincoln Electric from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed a market perform rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $225.29.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LECO traded down $3.10 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $202.47. The stock had a trading volume of 600,192 shares, compared to its average volume of 342,301. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $237.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $226.31. Lincoln Electric has a 12-month low of $164.00 and a 12-month high of $261.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market cap of $11.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.23.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.08. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 43.81% and a net margin of 13.23%. The company had revenue of $981.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.13 earnings per share. Lincoln Electric’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Lincoln Electric will post 9.6 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 30th will be issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln Electric

In other news, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,308,819.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC now owns 181,094 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $39,381,000 after purchasing an additional 4,770 shares in the last quarter. Telos Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $925,000. Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $13,377,000. Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,110,000. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 361,637 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $78,642,000 after acquiring an additional 8,223 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.