Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Lowered to Neutral at UBS Group

UBS Group downgraded shares of Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report released on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $510.00 price objective on the basic materials company’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $482.00.

Several other analysts have also commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Linde from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a peer perform rating on the stock. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on Linde from $503.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Linde currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $448.93.

Linde Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of LIN stock opened at $466.23 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $436.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $409.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $224.53 billion, a PE ratio of 37.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.93. Linde has a fifty-two week low of $344.56 and a fifty-two week high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 in the prior year, the company earned $3.16 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect 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 will be paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th will be given a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 13th. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.13%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of Linde 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988 over the last quarter. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.9% in the second quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 1,692,463 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $644,986,000 after acquiring an additional 14,969 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Europe London LLP acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the second quarter valued at approximately $23,044,000. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,600,000. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 6,172 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,679,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.