Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $484.18.

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $477.00 target price on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, August 30th. Barclays increased their price target on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,136,996. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 28.0% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,318 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $541,000 after buying an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 7.9% during the first quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 1,427 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $663,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. increased its position in Linde by 14.3% during the first quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 1,425 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $662,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Cooper Financial Group raised its stake in Linde by 37.9% in the first quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 764 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $355,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the period. Finally, Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the first quarter valued at approximately $219,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ LIN opened at $486.45 on Friday. Linde has a 12 month low of $361.02 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $469.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $450.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market capitalization of $232.28 billion, a PE ratio of 37.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.57 EPS. Linde’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Linde will post 15.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were issued a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.14%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.31%.

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.