Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO – Get Free Report)’s share price traded down 4.5% during trading on Wednesday after Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on the stock from $220.00 to $212.00. Robert W. Baird currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Lincoln Electric traded as low as $175.41 and last traded at $178.39. 110,247 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 326,648 shares. The stock had previously closed at $186.77.
Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $209.00 to $213.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Loop Capital cut their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $218.29.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lincoln Electric
Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 54.3% in the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 21,939 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,604,000 after buying an additional 7,718 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 62.7% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 65,079 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $16,442,000 after purchasing an additional 25,082 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2,984.6% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 439,065 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $95,479,000 after purchasing an additional 424,831 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 21.1% during the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 45,409 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $11,593,000 after purchasing an additional 7,922 shares during the period. Finally, Comerica Bank grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 28.4% during the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 126,573 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,525,000 after purchasing an additional 27,989 shares during the period. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Lincoln Electric Trading Down 5.8 %
The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 2.06 and a quick ratio of 1.31. The business has a 50 day moving average of $194.93 and a 200 day moving average of $217.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.60, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.15.
Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 42.24% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.44 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.07 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 Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.61%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is 30.15%.
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.