Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Receives $490.75 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $490.75.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective 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. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st.

Linde Price Performance

LIN opened at $448.57 on Thursday. Linde has a 1 year low of $396.07 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.96. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $469.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $453.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $213.59 billion, a PE ratio of 34.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.63 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Linde will post 15.48 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total value of $4,639,068.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This trade represents a 36.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Linde

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in shares of Linde by 46.9% during the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 48,211 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,593,000 after buying an additional 15,393 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 40.7% during the 1st quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 8,075 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,750,000 after purchasing an additional 2,337 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 4.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,312 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in Linde by 28.7% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 20,071 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,319,000 after purchasing an additional 4,479 shares during the period. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Linde by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 51,540 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $22,616,000 after buying an additional 1,564 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

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.