Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Price Target Raised to $475.00 at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Key Points

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Linde's price target to $475.00, indicating an expected upside of 2.04% from its current price, while maintaining an "overweight" rating on the stock.
• Other analysts have also increased their price targets for Linde, with Citigroup raising it to $535.00, and UBS Group adjusting theirs to $504.00, contributing to a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $518.30.
• Linde reported a quarterly earnings per share of $4.09, surpassing analyst expectations, along with a revenue of $8.50 billion, marking a year-over-year growth of 2.3%.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) had its price target hoisted by equities researchers at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $470.00 to $475.00 in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "overweight" rating on the basic materials company's stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s price target suggests a potential upside of 2.04% from the company's current price.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Citigroup raised shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price for the company. Finally, Argus raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $518.30.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN stock traded up $6.11 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $465.52. The company's stock had a trading volume of 491,937 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,116,955. Linde has a twelve month low of $408.65 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The business has a fifty day moving average of $467.15 and a 200-day moving average of $457.93. The stock has a market cap of $219.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.03 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. Linde's revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.85 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total value of $908,138.48. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total transaction of $3,314,065.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Linde

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its position in shares of Linde by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 211,395 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $88,505,000 after purchasing an additional 1,320 shares in the last quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 7,788 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,261,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 300.3% during the 4th quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 26,150 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $10,948,000 after purchasing an additional 19,618 shares in the last quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC now owns 55,009 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $23,031,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 770.8% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 36,052 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $15,094,000 after purchasing an additional 31,912 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.

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