Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) PT Lowered to $212.00 at Robert W. Baird

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) had its price objective trimmed by Robert W. Baird from $220.00 to $212.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on LECO. StockNews.com raised Lincoln Electric from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $209.00 to $213.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $218.29.

Lincoln Electric Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of LECO opened at $175.06 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $9.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $194.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $215.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 2.06 and a quick ratio of 1.31. Lincoln Electric has a 1 year low of $164.00 and a 1 year high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 42.24% and a net margin of 12.48%. Lincoln Electric’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.44 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric will post 9.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.62%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.15%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,709,315 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,458,387,000 after acquiring an additional 15,062 shares in the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. raised its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 48.0% in the second quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,747,083 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $518,210,000 after purchasing an additional 891,111 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 7.0% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,856,125 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $474,129,000 after purchasing an additional 121,914 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter worth $336,627,000. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its holdings in Lincoln Electric by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 687,841 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $149,578,000 after purchasing an additional 67,867 shares in the last quarter. 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.