Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Six investment 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 analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $484.18.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on LIN shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective 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. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $477.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, August 30th.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,136,996. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Linde

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 566.9% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,833,465 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $851,314,000 after purchasing an additional 1,558,538 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the 2nd quarter worth about $420,720,000. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 91.6% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 968,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $449,648,000 after purchasing an additional 463,096 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the 1st quarter worth about $210,480,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Linde by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,676,156 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,744,033,000 after purchasing an additional 405,952 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $479.35 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $459.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $449.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $230.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Linde has a 1 year low of $361.02 and a 1 year high of $480.76.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.30 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The company’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.57 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Linde will post 15.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th were issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

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.