Brokerages Set Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) PT at $501.82

Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $501.82.

LIN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup cut their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $457.45 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $454.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $454.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $216.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.61, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde has a 1-year low of $410.69 and a 1-year high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Linde will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 44.09%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total value of $1,163,545.98. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,662. This represents a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was 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 directly owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Linde

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Howard Capital Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter worth about $252,000. AMG National Trust Bank grew its stake in Linde by 4.5% during the third quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 3,391 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,617,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. MAI Capital Management grew its stake in Linde by 1.8% during the third quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 28,890 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $13,777,000 after buying an additional 521 shares during the last quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.1% during the third quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA now owns 3,341 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,593,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aviance Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 0.4% in the third quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 18,876 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,001,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.