Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The industrial products company reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.08, Briefing.com reports. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 13.23% and a return on equity of 43.81%. The firm had revenue of $981.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

NASDAQ LECO traded up $2.01 during trading on Friday, reaching $229.94. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 482,687 shares, compared to its average volume of 237,714. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.20. Lincoln Electric has a 12 month low of $156.80 and a 12 month high of $261.13. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $248.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $219.44.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 30th will be issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln Electric

In other Lincoln Electric news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total value of $3,178,719.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 22,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,554,575.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total transaction of $3,178,719.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 22,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,554,575.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total transaction of $834,202.98. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,308,819.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on LECO. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $257.00 to $252.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Monday, January 8th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $178.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $241.00 to $238.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $232.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Lincoln Electric from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Lincoln Electric has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $216.63.

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.