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

Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $490.75.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on LIN shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 22,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. The trade was a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Linde

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 372.8% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,288,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,567,958,000 after buying an additional 2,592,682 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Linde during the 2nd quarter valued at about $420,720,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Linde by 47,830.2% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 936,076 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $446,377,000 after purchasing an additional 934,123 shares during the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 108.7% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 784,477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $374,086,000 after purchasing an additional 408,659 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Linde by 131.6% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 621,444 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $296,342,000 after purchasing an additional 353,136 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

LIN opened at $449.44 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $214.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $464.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $455.33. Linde has a 12-month low of $396.07 and a 12-month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its 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. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.63 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Linde will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

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.