Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Hits New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $484.51 and last traded at $484.11, with a volume of 580761 shares. The stock had previously closed at $480.71.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on LIN. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $477.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $484.18.

Linde Stock Up 0.7 %

The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $232.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $467.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $450.01.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.30 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.57 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were given a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.15%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Linde

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Retirement Group LLC acquired a new stake in Linde during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Linde by 49.0% during the first quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 73 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Linde during the second quarter valued at $42,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

About Linde

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.