KeyCorp Trims Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Target Price to $240.00

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) had its price target cut by KeyCorp from $280.00 to $240.00 in a research note published on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Oppenheimer reiterated a market perform rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Monday, April 29th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Lincoln Electric from $257.00 to $252.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Lincoln Electric from $241.00 to $238.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $225.29.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 1.5 %

NASDAQ:LECO opened at $202.47 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $11.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.23. Lincoln Electric has a twelve month low of $164.00 and a twelve month high of $261.13. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $237.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $226.94.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $981.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 13.23% and a return on equity of 43.81%. The firm’s revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric will post 9.57 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.15%.

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total value of $834,202.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,150 shares in the company, valued at $2,308,819.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 194.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 106 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in Lincoln Electric by 81.1% during the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 172 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.