Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note issued on Monday.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $220.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $221.67.

Lincoln Electric Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of LECO stock traded down $2.95 during trading on Monday, reaching $198.80. The company's stock had a trading volume of 347,598 shares, compared to its average volume of 319,382. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 4.03 and a quick ratio of 1.31. The company has a market capitalization of $11.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.14. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $189.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $198.62. Lincoln Electric has a 1-year low of $169.51 and a 1-year high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $988.07 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.40 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Lincoln Electric will post 8.73 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln Electric

In related news, SVP Michael J. Whitehead sold 1,100 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.96, for a total value of $193,556.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,178 shares in the company, valued at $1,966,880.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.63% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln Electric

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LECO. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. purchased a new stake in Lincoln Electric in the 1st quarter valued at $247,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in Lincoln Electric by 142.9% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 13,702 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $3,500,000 after buying an additional 8,061 shares during the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its position in Lincoln Electric by 54.3% during the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 21,939 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $5,604,000 after buying an additional 7,718 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in Lincoln Electric by 112.2% during the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,203 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $307,000 after buying an additional 636 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its position in Lincoln Electric by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 50,061 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $12,788,000 after buying an additional 648 shares during the last quarter. 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.