Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Receives $460.00 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $460.00.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on LIN shares. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Nicolaus cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Mizuho raised Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Citigroup cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th.

Linde Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $440.96 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $212.36 billion, a PE ratio of 35.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.93. 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $456.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $422.26. Linde has a 1 year low of $350.60 and a 1 year high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $8.30 billion during 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.16 EPS. Analysts forecast that Linde will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.13%.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,809,695.89. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total value 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 $26,058,131.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988 in the last quarter. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Linde

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Carmel Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the third quarter worth about $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 122.6% in the third quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Provence Wealth Management Group bought a new position in shares of Linde in the third quarter worth about $29,000. First Pacific Financial bought a new position in shares of Linde in the first quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. 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.