Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Stifel Nicolaus Analyst Says

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) had its price objective hoisted by equities research analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $195.00 to $216.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “hold” rating on the industrial products company’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ target price indicates a potential upside of 4.03% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on LECO. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $225.17.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ:LECO opened at $207.63 on Wednesday. Lincoln Electric has a 1 year low of $169.51 and a 1 year high of $261.13. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $204.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $195.78. The stock has a market cap of $11.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.78, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $983.76 million during 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%. Lincoln Electric’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.40 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Lincoln Electric will post 8.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LECO. Elios Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric during the third quarter worth $999,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP grew its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 237,935 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $45,688,000 after acquiring an additional 7,962 shares during the period. Bridges Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the 2nd quarter valued at about $834,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,042,000. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 19,879 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,817,000 after purchasing an additional 2,642 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

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.