Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the fourteen research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $490.75.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on LIN shares. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Mizuho increased their price target on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target 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. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,136,996. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Linde

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in Linde in the first quarter valued at about $1,226,000. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,051 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,345,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 20.7% during the 1st quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 1,395 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $648,000 after buying an additional 239 shares during the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 28,887 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $13,413,000 after buying an additional 1,641 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 4,495 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,087,000 after buying an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Stock Up 0.1 %

Linde stock traded up $0.34 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $456.58. The company had a trading volume of 677,030 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,829,497. The stock has a market cap of $217.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.64, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.94. Linde has a 1 year low of $396.07 and a 1 year 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $470.47 and a 200 day moving average of $452.61.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors 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 1.22%. Linde's payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

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.