Linde (LIN) Scheduled to Post Earnings on Thursday

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) is set to announce its earnings results before the market opens on Thursday, May 2nd. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $3.68 per share for the quarter. Investors interested in registering for the company’s conference call can do so using this link.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its 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. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. Linde’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.16 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect Linde to post $16 EPS for the current fiscal year and $17 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $444.32 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $455.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $420.11. The company has a market cap of $213.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.93. Linde has a 52-week low of $350.60 and a 52-week high of $477.71.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 44.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $456.79.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were 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 $3,177,248.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total transaction of $23,353,139.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 57,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,271,882.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.