Robert W. Baird Trims Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Target Price to $252.00

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) had its price target dropped by investment analysts at Robert W. Baird from $257.00 to $252.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the industrial products company’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 10.56% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Lincoln Electric in a report on Monday, January 8th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $178.00 price target for the company. KeyCorp increased their price target on Lincoln Electric from $232.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $239.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $217.00.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of Lincoln Electric stock opened at $227.93 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $249.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $219.38. Lincoln Electric has a 12 month low of $155.21 and a 12 month high of $261.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.33, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.20. 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 announced 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 45.09% and a net margin of 13.01%. The business had revenue of $981.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.13 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Lincoln Electric will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,150 shares in the company, valued at $2,308,819.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of Lincoln Electric 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,150 shares in the company, valued at $2,308,819.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 22,402 shares in the company, 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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the first quarter worth about $26,000. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 194.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 106 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 81.1% in the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 172 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

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.