Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (LECO) To Go Ex-Dividend on June 28th

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.71 per share by the industrial products company on Monday, July 15th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th.

Lincoln Electric has increased its dividend by an average of 9.9% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 29 years. Lincoln Electric has a dividend payout ratio of 27.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Lincoln Electric to earn $10.30 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 27.6%.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of LECO opened at $238.36 on Friday. 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 has a 1 year low of $155.21 and a 1 year high of $261.13. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $248.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $217.94. The firm has a market cap of $13.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.20.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The industrial products company reported $2.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.26. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 45.09% and a net margin of 13.01%. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.94 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LECO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Lincoln Electric from $232.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Lincoln Electric in a report on Monday, January 8th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $178.00 target price for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Lincoln Electric from $239.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $210.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total value 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 $5,554,575.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total value 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 $5,554,575.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total value of $834,202.98. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,150 shares in the company, valued at $2,308,819.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.63% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 2,027 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $279,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 19,635 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,706,000 after buying an additional 743 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the 1st quarter worth about $591,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the 1st quarter worth about $210,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,200,068 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $716,620,000 after buying an additional 38,059 shares in the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is 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.