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

Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the fourteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $490.75.

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. Mizuho upped their target price on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Barclays increased their price target on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $8,136,996. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Linde

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Linde by 0.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,676,156 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,744,033,000 after purchasing an additional 405,952 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Linde by 0.4% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,449,218 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,513,551,000 after acquiring an additional 15,187 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake in shares of Linde by 7.6% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,112,160 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,365,647,000 after acquiring an additional 218,746 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Linde by 1.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,015,882 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,438,154,000 after acquiring an additional 50,882 shares during the period. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its stake in shares of Linde by 2.4% in the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,374,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,130,986,000 after acquiring an additional 56,775 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $456.24 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $470.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $452.58. The company has a market cap of $217.24 billion, a PE ratio of 34.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Linde has a twelve month low of $396.07 and a twelve month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.63 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Linde will post 15.48 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.