Linde’s (LIN) Hold Rating Reiterated at Erste Group Bank

Erste Group Bank reissued their hold rating on shares of Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) in a research report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $490.75.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN opened at $453.69 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.03 billion, a PE ratio of 34.45, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $468.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $453.12. Linde has a twelve month low of $396.07 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. The business 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.63 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Linde will post 15.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,136,996. The trade was a 36.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LIN. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 1.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,973,175 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,217,197,000 after purchasing an additional 154,792 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Linde by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,449,218 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,513,551,000 after acquiring an additional 15,187 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Linde by 372.8% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,288,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,567,958,000 after buying an additional 2,592,682 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in Linde by 7.6% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,112,160 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,365,647,000 after purchasing an additional 218,746 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Linde by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,015,882 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,438,154,000 after purchasing an additional 50,882 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

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.