Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Stock Rating Upgraded by Mizuho

Mizuho upgraded shares of Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report released on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Mizuho currently has $510.00 price target on the basic materials company's stock.

LIN has been the topic of several other reports. UBS Group downgraded Linde from a buy rating to a neutral rating and raised their target price for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a peer perform rating on the stock. TD Cowen raised their target price on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Linde from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $429.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn lowered Linde from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $456.79.

Linde Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Linde stock traded down $0.36 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $446.43. The stock had a trading volume of 1,070,326 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,256,902. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $453.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $417.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $214.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Linde has a 1 year low of $350.60 and a 1 year high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. The company's revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.16 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a $1.39 dividend. This is a positive change from Linde's previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.25%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.13%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total transaction of $6,030,344.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total value of $6,030,344.76. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988 in the last 90 days. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Linde

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LIN. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth $1,600,000. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co purchased a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,480,000. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. purchased a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,045,000. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd grew its stake in Linde by 156.3% in the fourth quarter. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd now owns 10,121 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,146,000 after purchasing an additional 6,172 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth about $1,679,000. Institutional investors 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.