Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Receives $448.93 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $448.93.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on LIN. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $503.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. UBS Group lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total value of $6,030,344.76. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at $3,177,248.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total transaction of $6,030,344.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988 over the last three months. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Linde

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.9% in the second quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 1,692,463 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $644,986,000 after buying an additional 14,969 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Europe London LLP purchased a new position in Linde during the second quarter valued at approximately $23,044,000. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning purchased a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,600,000. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co purchased a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,480,000. Finally, Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd lifted its holdings in Linde by 156.3% during the fourth quarter. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd now owns 10,121 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,146,000 after purchasing an additional 6,172 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $457.94 on Wednesday. Linde has a 1 year low of $350.60 and a 1 year high of $477.71. The stock has a market cap of $220.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $448.01 and a 200 day moving average of $414.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.16 EPS. Linde’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Linde will post 15.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.21%. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 44.13%.

About Linde

Linde plc operates as an industrial gas company in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South Pacific. It offers atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and rare gases; and process gases, such as carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, specialty gases, and acetylene.