Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Given New $530.00 Price Target at Mizuho

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) had its price objective upped by Mizuho from $520.00 to $530.00 in a research note released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on LIN. Citigroup increased their target price on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America raised their price objective on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays raised their price objective on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $490.75.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ:LIN traded up $1.16 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $457.31. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,347,398 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,574,533. The business’s 50-day moving average is $472.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $451.82. The company has a market capitalization of $218.37 billion, a PE ratio of 34.72, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.96. Linde has a 52-week low of $385.12 and a 52-week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share 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 return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. Linde’s revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.63 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Linde will post 15.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares in the company, 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 through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Linde

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Kovack Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 23.6% in the 1st quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 612 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $284,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Norden Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter valued at $315,000. Diversify Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter valued at $901,000. Mission Wealth Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 30.9% during the first quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 2,073 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $963,000 after buying an additional 489 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GLOBALT Investments LLC GA grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 5.1% during the first quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA now owns 3,310 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,537,000 after buying an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

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.