Linde's (LIN) Hold Rating Reiterated at Erste Group Bank

Erste Group Bank restated their hold rating on shares of Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) in a research note published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports.

LIN has been the topic of several other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $490.75.

Linde Trading Down 1.0 %

Linde stock traded down $4.51 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $444.06. 2,016,345 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,837,073. The stock has a market capitalization of $211.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.72, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.94. Linde has a 12 month low of $396.07 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $469.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $453.14.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. Linde's quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.63 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Linde will post 15.48 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total value of $4,639,068.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,136,996. The trade was a 36.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Linde

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. M&T Bank Corp boosted its position in Linde by 6.7% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 79,472 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $37,898,000 after buying an additional 5,021 shares during the period. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at about $232,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group grew its position in Linde by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 5,204 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,503,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its position in Linde by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 16,246 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $7,747,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its stake in Linde by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 464 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $221,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

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.