HSBC Trims Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Target Price to $452.00

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) had its price target reduced by HSBC from $458.00 to $452.00 in a research note published on Monday, Benzinga reports. HSBC currently has a buy rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

LIN has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Citigroup cut Linde from a buy rating to a neutral rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. 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 note on Thursday, April 11th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a peer perform rating for the company. UBS Group downgraded shares of Linde from a buy rating to a neutral rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target 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. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $464.69.

Linde Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $427.71 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company has a market capitalization of $205.59 billion, a PE ratio of 33.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94. Linde has a 12-month low of $350.60 and a 12-month high of $477.71. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $454.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $424.19.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. Linde had a net margin of 19.26% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The business had revenue of $8.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Linde will post 15.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be paid a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 4th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. Linde’s payout ratio is 43.13%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, 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 value of $23,353,139.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 57,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,271,882.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total value of $23,353,139.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 57,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,271,882.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were 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 directly owns 56,398 shares in the company, valued at $26,058,131.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 77,948 shares of company stock worth $35,687,605. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Linde

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LIN. FMR LLC lifted its position in Linde by 2.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,919,350 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,182,870,000 after buying an additional 354,506 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Linde by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,796,924 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,434,406,000 after buying an additional 141,322 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth $3,066,825,000. Winder Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the third quarter worth $1,892,774,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Linde by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,081,177 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,891,976,000 after purchasing an additional 123,174 shares during the period. 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.