Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Price Target Raised to $510.00

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) had its target price upped by Mizuho from $503.00 to $510.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

LIN has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Linde in a research note 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 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Linde from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $448.93.

Linde Stock Down 0.4 %

LIN opened at $464.32 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market cap of $223.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.85, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.93. Linde has a twelve month low of $348.38 and a twelve month high of $477.71. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $437.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $409.61.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.04 billion. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.16 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Linde will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $1.39 dividend. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.13%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Linde

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter worth $3,066,825,000. Winder Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in Linde in the 3rd quarter worth $1,892,774,000. WCM Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 888.7% in the 1st quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 3,741,529 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,329,889,000 after acquiring an additional 3,363,112 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Linde by 55.9% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,457,759 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,780,213,000 after acquiring an additional 1,956,394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Linde by 450.3% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,141,656 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $698,566,000 after acquiring an additional 1,752,456 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

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.