Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Rating Increased to Buy at Mizuho

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) was upgraded by stock analysts at Mizuho from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The firm presently has a $510.00 price target on the basic materials company’s stock. Mizuho’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 14.27% from the company’s previous close.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded 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, UBS Group downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $456.79.

Linde Trading Down 0.0 %

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $446.30 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. Linde has a one year low of $350.60 and a one year high of $477.71. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $453.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $418.29. The stock has a market cap of $214.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.93.

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

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total value of $6,030,344.76. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total value of $6,030,344.76. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 57,634 shares in the company, valued at $26,271,882.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Linde

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Annapolis Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 122.6% during the 3rd quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Provence Wealth Management Group bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.