Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Given New $475.00 Price Target at BMO Capital Markets

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) had its price target lowered by BMO Capital Markets from $510.00 to $475.00 in a research report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group cut shares of Linde from a buy rating to a neutral rating and raised their price target for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Linde from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $429.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Citigroup downgraded shares of Linde from a buy rating to a neutral rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Linde from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $464.69.

Linde Trading Up 0.7 %

LIN opened at $426.62 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $205.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Linde has a 12 month low of $350.60 and a 12 month high of $477.71. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $455.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $423.74.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $8.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.38 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 19.26%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.42 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Linde will post 15.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be paid a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 4th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 43.13%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total transaction of $23,353,139.04. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 57,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,271,882.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 57,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,271,882.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Linde

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Retirement Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. First Pacific Financial bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC grew its position in Linde by 122.6% during the third quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Linde during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. 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.