Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Raises Dividend to $0.75 Per Share

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 17th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.75 per share by the industrial products company on Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Lincoln Electric's previous quarterly dividend of $0.71.

Lincoln Electric has increased its dividend by an average of 9.9% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 29 years. Lincoln Electric has a dividend payout ratio of 30.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Lincoln Electric to earn $9.62 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.5%.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

LECO stock traded up $4.88 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $203.10. The stock had a trading volume of 391,527 shares, compared to its average volume of 320,109. Lincoln Electric has a 52-week low of $164.00 and a 52-week high of $261.13. The stock has a market cap of $11.56 billion, a PE ratio of 21.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 2.06. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $189.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $202.54.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.02 billion. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 42.24% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business's revenue was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.44 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric will post 8.95 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Lincoln Electric

In related news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total transaction of $193,556.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,178 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,966,880.88. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 2.63% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on LECO shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $221.67.

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.