Linde’s (LIN) Hold Rating Reaffirmed at Erste Group Bank

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reissued by Erste Group Bank in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on LIN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Barclays upped their target price on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $490.75.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN opened at $450.14 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $469.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $453.12. Linde has a 12-month low of $396.07 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The company has a market capitalization of $214.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.63 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Linde will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total value of $4,639,068.75. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,136,996. The trade was a 36.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Linde

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth $34,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in Linde in the second quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Linde in the third quarter valued at $43,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.