Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.09 EPS

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The industrial products company reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.09, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $983.76 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $988.07 million. 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 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.40 EPS.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of LECO traded up $9.19 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $201.75. The company had a trading volume of 355,982 shares, compared to its average volume of 319,245. Lincoln Electric has a 12 month low of $169.51 and a 12 month high of $261.13. The firm has a market cap of $11.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.85, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a fifty day moving average of $189.73 and a 200-day moving average of $199.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 2.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.49%. This is a boost from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is 32.16%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on LECO shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $221.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln Electric

In other news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total transaction of $193,556.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,178 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,966,880.88. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Company Profile

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.