BMO Capital Markets Trims Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Target Price to $475.00

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

Several other research firms have also weighed in on LIN. Citigroup lowered Linde from a buy rating to a neutral rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Linde from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered Linde from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $429.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Linde currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $464.69.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $429.86 on Monday. Linde has a 12 month low of $350.60 and a 12 month high of $477.71. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $454.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $424.22. The firm has a market cap of $206.62 billion, a PE ratio of 33.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.68 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $8.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.38 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.26% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.42 EPS. Equities research analysts expect 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. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total value of $23,353,139.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 57,634 shares in the company, valued at $26,271,882.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 57,634 shares in the company, valued at $26,271,882.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 77,948 shares of company stock worth $35,687,605 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,038 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,131,000 after purchasing an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Linde by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $463,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 3,178 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,161,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC raised its position in Linde by 8.9% in the third quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 24,418 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,092,000 after purchasing an additional 1,988 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 7.9% during the third quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 20,483 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,627,000 after purchasing an additional 1,503 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.