Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) Stock Has Average Target Price of $553.05

Key Points

• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus on Linde, with 21 buy, one strong-buy and two hold ratings among 24 analysts; the average 12-month price target is $553.05.
• Linde beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, reporting EPS of $4.59 and revenue of $9.40 billion; revenue rose 9.3% year over year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.60 per share, equivalent to $6.40 annually and a 1.2% yield.

Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) has received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-four ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twenty-one have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $553.05.

Several analysts have issued reports on LIN shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Linde from $535.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Evercore boosted their target price on Linde from $515.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Bank of America upped their price target on Linde from $532.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Berenberg Bank reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $574.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, October 30th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,350 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.91, for a total transaction of $4,851,808.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,487,629.58. This represents a 29.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Matthew J. White sold 86,833 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $521.21, for a total value of $45,258,227.93. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 50,733 shares in the company, valued at $26,442,546.93. This trade represents a 63.12% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Linde

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its position in Linde by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,344,181 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $10,558,016,000 after purchasing an additional 719,052 shares during the period. Amundi increased its stake in Linde by 13.4% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 3,162,409 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,567,796,000 after purchasing an additional 373,012 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Linde by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,740,541 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,358,712,000 after purchasing an additional 64,078 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Linde by 28.6% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,624,728 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $805,475,000 after buying an additional 361,664 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in Linde by 6.6% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,370,361 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $679,370,000 after buying an additional 85,360 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $515.25 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.86. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $486.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $494.34. Linde has a 52-week low of $387.78 and a 52-week high of $548.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $236.54 billion, a PE ratio of 34.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.67.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $4.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.52 by $0.07. Linde had a net margin of 19.34% and a return on equity of 20.32%. The firm had revenue of $9.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.16 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.21 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Linde will post 17.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 3rd will be given a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 3rd. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.52%.

Linde Company Profile

Linde plc is a global industrial gases and engineering company. It produces and supplies atmospheric gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and argon, as well as hydrogen, helium and specialty gases. The company also designs and builds equipment and facilities used to produce and process gases.

Linde serves customers across industries including healthcare, manufacturing, chemicals, food and beverage, electronics and energy. Its operations span the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia-Pacific.

The company was formed in 2018 through the merger of Germany's Linde AG and U.S.-based Praxair, bringing together businesses with long histories in industrial gases and engineering.

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