Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) Expected to Post Quarterly Sales of $739.89 Million

Analysts predict that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) will report sales of $739.89 million for the current fiscal quarter, Zacks reports. Seven analysts have made estimates for Lincoln Electric’s earnings, with the lowest sales estimate coming in at $715.80 million and the highest estimate coming in at $754.00 million. Lincoln Electric reported sales of $743.83 million during the same quarter last year, which indicates a negative year over year growth rate of 0.5%. The firm is scheduled to issue its next earnings results on Thursday, February 13th.

On average, analysts expect that Lincoln Electric will report full-year sales of $3.01 billion for the current year, with estimates ranging from $2.98 billion to $3.02 billion. For the next year, analysts forecast that the business will post sales of $3.04 billion, with estimates ranging from $2.97 billion to $3.08 billion. Zacks’ sales calculations are an average based on a survey of sell-side analysts that that provide coverage for Lincoln Electric.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.24 by ($0.15). Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 36.00% and a net margin of 10.50%. The company had revenue of $730.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $750.21 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.21 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis.

LECO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Seaport Global Securities downgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. BidaskClub raised shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $97.00 to $84.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Lincoln Electric has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.33.

In other Lincoln Electric news, CEO Christopher L. Mapes sold 28,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.41, for a total value of $2,690,685.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 236,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,347,319.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through . Also, CFO Vincent K. Petrella sold 19,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.70, for a total transaction of $1,842,225.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 75,625 shares of company stock valued at $7,120,786 over the last three months. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LECO. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 48.8% in the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 542,300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $44,642,000 after acquiring an additional 177,800 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Lincoln Electric by 34,326.9% in the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 140,806 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $11,810,000 after acquiring an additional 140,397 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the second quarter valued at about $11,413,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the second quarter valued at about $10,212,000. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric in the third quarter valued at about $6,247,000. 71.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NASDAQ LECO opened at $98.16 on Friday. Lincoln Electric has a 52-week low of $75.50 and a 52-week high of $98.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.89. The company has a market capitalization of $6.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a fifty day moving average of $94.15 and a 200-day moving average of $87.12.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.49 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 30th. This is an increase from Lincoln Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. Lincoln Electric’s payout ratio is currently 40.66%.

About Lincoln Electric

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and sells welding, cutting, and brazing products worldwide. It operates through three segments: Americas Welding, International Welding, and The Harris Products Group. The company offers welding products, including arc welding power sources, plasma cutters, wire feeding systems, robotic welding packages, integrated automation systems, fume extraction equipment, consumable electrodes, fluxes and welding accessories, and specialty welding consumables and fabrication products.