Analysts Set Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Price Target at $501.82

Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $501.82.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup lowered their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Mizuho increased their target price on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total value of $3,117,142.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at $6,786,289.30. This trade represents a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 16,285 shares of company stock worth $7,423,986 over the last three months. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Linde

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 2,957,604 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,598,551,000 after purchasing an additional 30,750 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Linde by 6.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 554,480 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,901,853,000. Finally, Freemont Capital Pte Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth $2,128,233,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

LIN opened at $458.53 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Linde has a 12-month low of $410.69 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The company has a market cap of $218.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $437.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $454.56.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. Research analysts predict that Linde will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.