Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) PT Raised to $512.00

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) had its price target upped by Mizuho from $510.00 to $512.00 in a report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on LIN. Wolfe Research started coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a peer perform rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Linde from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $429.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Linde from a buy rating to a neutral rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $464.69.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN traded up $3.02 on Friday, hitting $426.62. The company had a trading volume of 1,485,596 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,225,583. The stock has a market cap of $205.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $455.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $423.35. Linde has a 1-year low of $350.60 and a 1-year high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. Linde had a net margin of 19.26% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The business had revenue of $8.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.38 billion. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.42 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Linde will post 15.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total value of $6,030,344.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at $3,177,248.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Linde

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Advisory Services Network LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 13,807 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,411,000 after acquiring an additional 414 shares during the period. TFG Advisers LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 3,745 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,739,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in Linde by 3.8% during the first quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. now owns 820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $381,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Mitchell Capital Management Co. raised its stake in Linde by 5.8% in the first quarter. Mitchell Capital Management Co. now owns 5,438 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,525,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the period. Finally, Cohen Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Cohen Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,972 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $916,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.