Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Buy Rating

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Monday.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $220.00.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Shares of LECO stock traded up $6.42 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $219.94. The stock had a trading volume of 385,334 shares, compared to its average volume of 317,948. The business’s fifty day moving average is $198.22 and its 200-day moving average is $196.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market cap of $12.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.25, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.14. Lincoln Electric has a 1-year low of $169.51 and a 1-year high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.09. 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 40.03% and a net margin of 11.93%. The company’s revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.40 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric will post 8.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In other news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total value of $193,556.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,966,880.88. The trade was a 8.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln Electric

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 174.4% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 107 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric in the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 97.9% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 283 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 41.5% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Lincoln Electric by 308.5% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 335 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.