Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.08 EPS

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) posted its earnings results on Thursday. The industrial products company reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.08, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $981.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 45.09% and a net margin of 13.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.13 EPS.

Lincoln Electric Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of LECO stock traded up $0.51 during trading on Friday, hitting $228.44. 144,323 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 279,565. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 1.50. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $249.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $219.38. Lincoln Electric has a 52-week low of $156.80 and a 52-week high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is presently 30.31%.

Insider Activity

In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the business’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 value of $834,202.98. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,308,819.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total transaction of $3,178,719.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 22,402 shares in the company, valued at $5,554,575.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,150 shares in the company, valued at $2,308,819.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on LECO. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $232.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Robert W. Baird decreased 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 note on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target 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. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a research note on Monday, January 8th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $178.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price 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 assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.