Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Price Target Raised to $504.00

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) had its price objective increased by UBS Group from $485.00 to $504.00 in a research report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the basic materials company's stock.

LIN has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Argus raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target for the company. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $518.80.

Linde Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of LIN stock traded up $1.32 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $471.27. 1,522,464 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,972,935. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $462.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $451.89. The stock has a market cap of $221.84 billion, a PE ratio of 34.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.96. Linde has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.75 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were given a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio is 43.57%.

Insider Activity

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Linde

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital World Investors grew its position in Linde by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,834,631,000 after acquiring an additional 2,957,604 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,598,551,000 after purchasing an additional 30,750 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,600,297 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,470,284,000 after purchasing an additional 453,108 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in Linde by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,214,290 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,857,741,000 after buying an additional 554,480 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Linde by 18.6% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,542,991 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,511,751,000 after buying an additional 1,182,157 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.