Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Rating Increased to Buy at TD Cowen

TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Monday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. TD Cowen currently has $515.00 target price on the basic materials company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $480.00.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on LIN. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $495.75.

Linde Stock Up 0.2 %

Linde stock opened at $427.98 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $438.67 and its 200 day moving average is $453.08. Linde has a 12-month low of $396.07 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The company has a market capitalization of $203.79 billion, a PE ratio of 32.50, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.94. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.63 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Linde will post 15.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were paid a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total value of $963,388.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 25,926 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 22,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,493,586.48. The trade was a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Linde

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Linde by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,367 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $652,000 after buying an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 0.9% in the third quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,706 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,290,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,831 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $873,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Finally, Meridian Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 5.2% during the second quarter. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC now owns 482 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $212,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. 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.