Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets reissued their outperform rating on shares of Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has a $477.00 price target on the basic materials company's stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America increased their target price on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $484.18.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of Linde stock traded up $5.52 during trading on Friday, hitting $478.25. 1,385,625 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,899,248. Linde has a 1 year low of $361.02 and a 1 year high of $479.79. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $447.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $445.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $229.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.10, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.57 earnings per share. Linde's revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Linde will post 15.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

Institutional Trading of Linde

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Retirement Group LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. First Pacific Financial purchased a new position in Linde during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 49.0% during the 1st quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 73 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. 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.