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

Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $490.75.

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

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds bought 100 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $441.34 per share, with a total value of $44,134.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $102,832.22. This trade represents a 75.19 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 22,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. The trade was a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Linde

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in Linde by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 79,472 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,898,000 after purchasing an additional 5,021 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 16.8% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 9,604 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,580,000 after buying an additional 1,383 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its stake in shares of Linde by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 54,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,215,000 after buying an additional 2,312 shares during the period. Waverton Investment Management Ltd raised its stake in shares of Linde by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 196,036 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $93,457,000 after buying an additional 1,811 shares during the period. Finally, Atom Investors LP lifted its position in shares of Linde by 19.8% during the 3rd quarter. Atom Investors LP now owns 12,269 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,851,000 after buying an additional 2,028 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of LIN stock opened at $414.17 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $446.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $454.18. Linde has a 12-month low of $396.07 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $197.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm posted $3.63 earnings per share. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Linde will post 15.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were paid a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.34%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.