Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Price Target Cut to $452.00

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) had its price objective reduced by equities researchers at HSBC from $458.00 to $452.00 in a research report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. HSBC’s price target indicates a potential upside of 5.12% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on LIN. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Wolfe Research began coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. UBS Group downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Citigroup lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $464.69.

Linde Stock Up 0.8 %

LIN opened at $430.00 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $206.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $454.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $424.19. Linde has a fifty-two week low of $350.60 and a fifty-two week high of $477.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.68 by $0.07. Linde had a net margin of 19.26% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The business had revenue of $8.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.38 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.42 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Linde will post 15.5 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total transaction of $3,837,704.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 56,398 shares in the company, valued at $26,058,131.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Linde

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,919,350 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,182,870,000 after acquiring an additional 354,506 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Linde by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,796,924 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,434,406,000 after buying an additional 141,322 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,066,825,000. Winder Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,892,774,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,081,177 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,891,976,000 after acquiring an additional 123,174 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.