Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Stock Rating Upgraded by Mizuho

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) was upgraded by equities researchers at Mizuho from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has a $510.00 price target on the basic materials company’s stock. Mizuho’s price target indicates a potential upside of 14.15% from the stock’s previous close.

LIN has been the subject of several other research reports. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Stifel Nicolaus cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $456.79.

Linde Stock Performance

Linde stock opened at $446.79 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $452.70 and a 200-day moving average of $417.56. Linde has a 1 year low of $350.60 and a 1 year high of $477.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company has a market capitalization of $215.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.16 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Linde will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total value of $23,353,139.04. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 57,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,271,882.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 over the last quarter. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Linde

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Linde by 44.4% during the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $575,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Claro Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 2,316 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $951,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Holderness Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Holderness Investments Co. now owns 1,863 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $765,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Fort Point Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $516,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Company Profile

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.