Stifel Nicolaus Cuts Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Price Target to $252.00

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) had its price target reduced by Stifel Nicolaus from $265.00 to $252.00 in a research note released on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a hold rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on LECO. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Roth Capital set a $285.00 price target on shares of Lincoln Electric and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $244.83.

Lincoln Electric Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LECO opened at $243.69 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $235.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $230.16. Lincoln Electric has a fifty-two week low of $161.11 and a fifty-two week high of $252.00. The company has a market capitalization of $13.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.71.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.08. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.33% and a net margin of 12.56%.The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.14 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Lincoln Electric will post 9.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.79 dividend. This is an increase from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 31st. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is 32.12%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LECO. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL increased its position in Lincoln Electric by 3,475.4% during the third quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 51,307 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $12,100,000 after acquiring an additional 49,872 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 19.3% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 5,887 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,388,000 after purchasing an additional 953 shares during the period. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 79.4% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 2,603 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $614,000 after purchasing an additional 1,152 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 28.3% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 530 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $125,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the third quarter worth approximately $239,000. 79.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.