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

Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $484.18.

LIN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $477.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Linde

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 405,952 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings 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 lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 7.6% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,112,160 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,365,647,000 after purchasing an additional 218,746 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 8.7% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,993,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $874,908,000 after purchasing an additional 160,355 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.2% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,953,147 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $906,730,000 after purchasing an additional 23,155 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $473.76 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.22 billion, a PE ratio of 36.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $472.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $451.19. Linde has a 1 year low of $366.12 and a 1 year high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.57 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Linde will post 15.52 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were issued a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 42.31%.

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.