Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $1.50

Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 26th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of 1.50 per share by the basic materials company on Thursday, March 27th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39.

Linde has increased its dividend payment by an average of 37.9% annually over the last three years. Linde has a dividend payout ratio of 30.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Linde to earn $18.02 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 30.9%.

Linde Trading Down 1.2 %

NASDAQ:LIN traded down $5.41 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $462.08. 939,990 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,211,368. The firm has a market capitalization of $220.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.96, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $438.23 and its 200-day moving average is $454.70. Linde has a 12-month low of $410.69 and a 12-month high of $487.49. 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 (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Linde will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on LIN shares. TD Cowen raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets increased 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. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $501.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 22,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. This represents a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 16,285 shares of company stock valued at $7,423,986 in the last ninety days. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.