Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Price Target Cut to $475.00 by Analysts at BMO Capital Markets

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) had its target price dropped by equities research analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $510.00 to $475.00 in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 10.47% from the company’s current price.

LIN has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $464.69.

Linde Price Performance

LIN opened at $430.00 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $206.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $454.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $424.19. Linde has a 12 month low of $350.60 and a 12 month high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.68 by $0.07. Linde had a net margin of 19.26% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The business had revenue of $8.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.42 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Linde will post 15.5 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Linde news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total value of $23,353,139.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 57,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,271,882.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of Linde 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Linde

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Retirement Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter worth $25,000. Carmel Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its position in Linde by 122.6% in the third quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, First Pacific Financial bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the first quarter worth about $30,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.