Brokerages Set Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Target Price at $230.75

Shares of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $229.50.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on LECO shares. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $216.00 to $211.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 121.7% in the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 268,229 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $50,284,000 after buying an additional 147,239 shares in the last quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC now owns 193,578 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $36,290,000 after buying an additional 2,465 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln Electric by 84.9% in the fourth quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 1,975 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $372,000 after buying an additional 907 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the fourth quarter worth about $496,000. Finally, Vest Financial LLC raised its stake in Lincoln Electric by 57.3% during the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 12,832 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,406,000 after purchasing an additional 4,675 shares during the period. 79.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 0.5 %

LECO stock opened at $196.15 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $11.07 billion, a PE ratio of 23.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.85. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $198.78 and its 200 day moving average is $196.48. Lincoln Electric has a one year low of $169.51 and a one year high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.09. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 11.93% and a return on equity of 40.03%. The company had revenue of $983.76 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $988.07 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric will post 8.74 EPS for the current year.

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.