Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Gap Down to $442.62

Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $442.62, but opened at $425.82. Linde shares last traded at $420.21, with a volume of 787,038 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on LIN shares. Wolfe Research started coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, UBS Group lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $460.00.

Linde Stock Down 5.2 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $202.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $456.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $422.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.68 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $8.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.38 billion. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The business’s revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.42 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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 issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.13%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,177,248.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total value of $6,030,344.76. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $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 valued at $35,811,988. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Linde

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Retirement Group LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. First Pacific Financial acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 122.6% in the third quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. 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.