Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Given New $510.00 Price Target at Mizuho

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) had its price target upped by Mizuho from $503.00 to $510.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Mizuho currently has a neutral rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on LIN. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They set a peer perform rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Linde from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $429.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Linde from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $448.93.

Linde Stock Down 0.4 %

LIN stock opened at $464.32 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $437.90 and a 200 day moving average of $409.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $223.61 billion, a PE ratio of 36.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Linde has a 52 week low of $348.38 and a 52 week high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.04 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.16 EPS. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Linde will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $1.39 dividend. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.13%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total value of $23,353,139.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 57,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,271,882.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total value of $23,353,139.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 57,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,271,882.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Linde

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. TradeLink Capital LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the first quarter worth $2,523,000. Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its position in Linde by 36.4% in the first quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 1,773 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $566,000 after acquiring an additional 473 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Linde by 25.4% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,996 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $957,000 after acquiring an additional 607 shares in the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. raised its position in Linde by 15.3% in the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 2,380 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $760,000 after acquiring an additional 316 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ergoteles LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the first quarter worth $6,682,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Company Profile

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.