Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Upgraded at Argus

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Argus to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on LIN. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $501.82.

Linde Stock Up 1.2 %

Linde stock traded up $5.17 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $437.05. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 130,959 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,924,679. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. Linde has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $456.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $452.25. The company has a market capitalization of $206.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Linde will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $610,662. This trade represents a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total transaction of $1,323,154.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,393,571.38. This trade represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. lifted its position in Linde by 85.2% during the fourth quarter. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. now owns 2,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,047,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares during the period. Channel Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Channel Wealth LLC now owns 7,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,092,000 after buying an additional 1,723 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $898,188,000 after acquiring an additional 46,843 shares during the period. SYM FINANCIAL Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $625,000. Finally, Signet Financial Management LLC bought a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $749,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.