Seaport Res Ptn Equities Analysts Reduce Earnings Estimates for Linde plc (NYSE:LIN)

Linde plc (NYSE:LIN – Get Rating) – Stock analysts at Seaport Res Ptn lowered their Q2 2022 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Linde in a report released on Wednesday, April 20th. Seaport Res Ptn analyst M. Harrison now expects that the basic materials company will earn $2.91 per share for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $2.95. Seaport Res Ptn also issued estimates for Linde’s Q3 2022 earnings at $2.98 EPS and FY2022 earnings at $11.74 EPS.

Linde (NYSE:LIN – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 10th. The basic materials company reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $2.67 by $0.10. Linde had a net margin of 12.43% and a return on equity of 12.00%. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.84 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on LIN. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Wednesday, March 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $390.00 price target for the company. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Linde from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $312.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $330.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 11th. Societe Generale lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 4th. Finally, HSBC lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $366.00 to $382.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $361.53.

Linde stock opened at $326.37 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $304.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $317.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.74. Linde has a fifty-two week low of $267.51 and a fifty-two week high of $352.18. The company has a market capitalization of $167.28 billion, a PE ratio of 44.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.89.

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth $2,589,853,000. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 51.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,835,794 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,714,440,000 after buying an additional 2,646,192 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 22.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 7,657,766 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,654,399,000 after buying an additional 1,416,567 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth $340,702,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 596.6% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,115,691 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $386,607,000 after buying an additional 955,525 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.90% of the company’s stock.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 11th were paid a dividend of $1.17 per share. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.06. This represents a $4.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 10th. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 63.93%.

Linde Company Profile (Get Rating)

Linde plc operates as an industrial gas company in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It offers oxygen, nitrogen, argon, rare gases, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, helium, electronic and specialty gases, acetylene, and carbon monoxide. The company also designs and constructs turnkey process plants, such as olefin, natural gas, air separation, hydrogen and synthesis gas, and other plants.

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