Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) Receives $510.40 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have issued a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $510.40.

LIN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Argus raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 target price for the company. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 22,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total transaction of $3,314,065.62. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Linde

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. North Capital Inc. acquired a new position in Linde in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Linde by 1,160.0% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 34.9% in the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Down 0.1%

LIN stock opened at $463.79 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $218.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.68, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.94. Linde has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $458.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $449.77.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.24 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.75 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Linde will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.57%.

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.