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

Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings 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 brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $448.93.

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Linde from $503.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN opened at $464.70 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $223.79 billion, a PE ratio of 36.88, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.93. Linde has a twelve month low of $350.60 and a twelve month high of $477.71. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $445.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $413.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total transaction of $3,837,704.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 56,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,058,131.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total transaction of $3,837,704.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 56,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,058,131.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Linde

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Linde by 6.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,998 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,392,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Somerset Trust Co raised its position in Linde by 1.4% during the first quarter. Somerset Trust Co now owns 11,292 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,243,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division raised its position in Linde by 1.4% during the first quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 4,642 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,155,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Boltwood Capital Management acquired a new position in Linde during the first quarter worth about $203,000. Finally, Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the first quarter worth about $375,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% 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.