Linde (LIN) Scheduled to Post Earnings on Thursday

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) is scheduled to post its quarterly earnings results before the market opens on Thursday, May 2nd. Analysts expect Linde to post earnings of $3.68 per share for the quarter. Investors that are interested in registering for the company’s conference call can do so using this link.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.16 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect Linde to post $16 EPS for the current fiscal year and $17 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Linde Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of Linde stock opened at $440.96 on Wednesday. Linde has a 52-week low of $350.60 and a 52-week high of $477.71. The company has a 50 day moving average of $456.43 and a 200 day moving average of $422.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market capitalization of $212.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.93.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 44.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on LIN shares. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Citigroup lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $460.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total transaction of $6,030,344.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total transaction of $6,030,344.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the transaction, 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 sold a total of 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 in the last 90 days. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.