Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Price Target Raised to $507.00

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) had its target price lifted by BMO Capital Markets from $477.00 to $507.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has an outperform rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on LIN. Barclays lifted their price objective on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $490.75.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $458.32 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $218.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $472.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $451.98. Linde has a 52 week low of $385.12 and a 52 week 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.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.63 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Linde will post 15.49 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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 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 completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Linde

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 7,780 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,710,000 after acquiring an additional 589 shares during the period. Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. grew its position in Linde by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. now owns 1,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $647,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 9.6% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,997 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,383,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares during the period. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at approximately $136,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the third quarter valued at approximately $335,000. 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.