Analysts Set Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Price Target at $490.75

Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to 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. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 22,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. The trade was a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total value of $963,388.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares in the company, valued at $11,260,958.10. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Linde

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 16.9% during the third quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. Prentice Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Linde by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,367 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $652,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Linde by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,706 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,290,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,831 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $873,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meridian Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC now owns 482 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $212,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $413.50 on Friday. Linde has a one year low of $396.07 and a one year high of $487.49. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $445.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $454.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $196.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.40, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.63 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Linde will post 15.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

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.