Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Receives $498.00 Consensus PT from Analysts

Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) has received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the thirteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $498.00.

A number of research analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. TD Cowen raised Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total transaction of $1,323,154.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. This trade represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the business'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 owns 1,300 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $610,662. This represents a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843 over the last 90 days. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Linde

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,834,631,000 after buying an additional 2,957,604 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,598,551,000 after purchasing an additional 30,750 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of Linde by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,214,290 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,857,741,000 after purchasing an additional 554,480 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,901,853,000. Finally, Freemont Capital Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $2,128,233,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Linde Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of LIN stock traded up $4.38 on Friday, reaching $452.37. The company had a trading volume of 466,710 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,935,465. The company has a 50-day moving average of $455.80 and a 200-day moving average of $451.54. Linde has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $213.93 billion, a PE ratio of 33.24, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. This is a boost from Linde's previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. Linde's dividend payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

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.