Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) PT Lowered to $475.00 at BMO Capital Markets

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) had its target price lowered by BMO Capital Markets from $510.00 to $475.00 in a research note released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Linde from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Citigroup cut shares of Linde from a buy rating to a neutral rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $464.69.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN stock opened at $427.71 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $205.59 billion, a PE ratio of 33.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $454.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $424.19. Linde has a 12-month low of $350.60 and a 12-month high of $477.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.68 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $8.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.38 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 19.26%. Linde’s revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.42 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Linde will post 15.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total transaction of $6,030,344.76. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at $3,177,248.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total value of $6,030,344.76. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,177,248.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 quarter, insiders sold 77,948 shares of company stock worth $35,687,605. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Linde

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Provence Wealth Management Group raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 655.7% during the 4th quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group now owns 597 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $245,000 after acquiring an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. Schwarz Dygos Wheeler Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at $203,000. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth $1,600,000. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth about $1,480,000. Finally, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth about $2,045,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.