Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Earns Hold Rating from Erste Group Bank

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reissued by equities researchers at Erste Group Bank in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $490.75.

Linde Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of LIN stock traded down $5.34 on Tuesday, hitting $443.23. 879,071 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,831,951. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.96. Linde has a twelve month low of $396.07 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $469.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $453.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $211.05 billion, a PE ratio of 33.65, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. Linde’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.63 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Linde will post 15.48 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was 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 $8,136,996. This trade represents a 36.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Linde

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Linde during the third quarter worth $34,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in Linde in the second quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Linde in the third quarter valued at $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.