Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twelve brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $503.11.

A number of research firms have recently commented on LIN. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Argus upgraded Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total value of $1,323,154.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843 in the last 90 days. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Linde

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wrapmanager Inc. boosted its holdings in Linde by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,693 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $709,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 272 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $114,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC grew its position in Linde by 34.9% in the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA increased its stake in Linde by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA now owns 4,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,999,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fourpath Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC now owns 4,138 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,732,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Linde Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $449.66 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $211.67 billion, a PE ratio of 33.04, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. Linde has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $452.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $448.97.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.75 earnings per share. Linde’s quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Linde will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 43.57%.

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.