Brokerages Set Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) PT at $501.82

Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $501.82.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup cut their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN opened at $458.33 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $452.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $454.49. The company has a market capitalization of $216.75 billion, a PE ratio of 33.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde has a 1 year low of $410.69 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. Research analysts expect that Linde will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total value of $1,323,154.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,393,571.38. This represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total value of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $610,662. The trade was a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Linde

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. 111 Capital acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,707,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 57,589 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $24,110,000 after buying an additional 4,514 shares during the period. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 56,428 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $23,625,000 after buying an additional 999 shares during the period. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $66,277,000. Finally, Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $178,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

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.