Analysts Set Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Price Target at $233.25

Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $233.60.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on LECO shares. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LECO. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 87.9% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,340 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $257,000 after acquiring an additional 627 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 11,088 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,129,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 308.5% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 335 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC boosted its position in Lincoln Electric by 38.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 8,157 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,566,000 after purchasing an additional 2,244 shares during the period. Finally, Sharkey Howes & Javer acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,712,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LECO opened at $211.64 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $11.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.97, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.87. Lincoln Electric has a one year low of $169.51 and a one year high of $261.13. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $194.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $196.18.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.54. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.94 million. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 11.63%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric will post 9.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is 36.81%.

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.