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

Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $460.00.

LIN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th.

Linde Stock Down 0.9 %

LIN stock opened at $440.96 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $212.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.00, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.93. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $456.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $422.26.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its 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. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.04 billion. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.16 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Linde will post 15.58 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were 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 directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Linde news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Members Trust Co grew its stake in Linde by 3.7% during the first quarter. Members Trust Co now owns 646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $300,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Linde by 44.4% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Linde by 49.0% during the first quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 73 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Linde by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $575,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Claro Advisors LLC grew its stake in Linde by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 2,316 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $951,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.