Brokerages Set Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Target Price at $307.22

Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $307.2222.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on LECO shares. UBS Group initiated coverage on Lincoln Electric in a report on Monday, August 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $340.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded Lincoln Electric from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $257.00 to $283.00 in a report on Monday, August 10th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 12th. Finally, DA Davidson assumed coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $320.00 price objective on the stock.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of Lincoln Electric stock opened at $255.30 on Monday. Lincoln Electric has a one year low of $216.22 and a one year high of $310.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.50, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.21. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $268.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $263.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.20.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.12. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 39.23% and a net margin of 12.35%.The business had revenue of $1.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric will post 11.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is presently 31.57%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Lincoln Electric during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $656,165,000. Diamant Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 24,685.8% in the first quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,839,568 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $956,360,000 after purchasing an additional 3,824,077 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $415,155,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the second quarter valued at approximately $52,700,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,306,641 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $313,175,000 after buying an additional 6,070 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

About Lincoln Electric

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc (NASDAQ: LECO) is a Cleveland, Ohio-based manufacturer of welding, cutting and automation products. Founded in 1895 by John C. Lincoln, the company serves industrial, construction, energy, transportation and other end markets that use fabrication and joining technologies.

Its product portfolio includes arc-welding machines, welding consumables such as electrodes and wire, plasma and oxyfuel cutting equipment, robotic welding systems, and related automation solutions.