Seaport Res Ptn Comments on Linde plc’s Q1 2024 Earnings (NASDAQ:LIN)

Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) – Seaport Res Ptn increased their Q1 2024 earnings per share estimates for shares of Linde in a research report issued on Wednesday, April 17th. Seaport Res Ptn analyst M. Harrison now forecasts that the basic materials company will post earnings per share of $3.66 for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $3.64. Seaport Res Ptn currently has a “Neutral” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Linde’s current full-year earnings is $15.58 per share. Seaport Res Ptn also issued estimates for Linde’s Q3 2024 earnings at $3.96 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $17.07 EPS.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.16 EPS.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on LIN. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Linde in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Citigroup downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Mizuho upgraded Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $456.79.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $446.43 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $214.99 billion, a PE ratio of 35.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.93. 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 has a one year low of $350.60 and a one year high of $477.71. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $453.35 and a 200-day moving average of $417.76.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning purchased a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter worth $1,600,000. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co purchased a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter worth $1,480,000. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. purchased a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter worth $2,045,000. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd grew its position in Linde by 156.3% in the fourth quarter. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd now owns 10,121 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,146,000 after acquiring an additional 6,172 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,679,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Linde news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 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 company insiders.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 44.13%.

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.