Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Announces Earnings Results

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) released its earnings results on Thursday. The basic materials company reported $3.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07, RTT News reports. Linde had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. The company had revenue of $8.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.42 EPS. Linde’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Linde updated its FY24 guidance to $15.30-15.60 EPS.

Linde Stock Down 5.4 %

NASDAQ:LIN traded down $23.93 on Thursday, hitting $418.69. 1,259,318 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,179,282. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Linde has a 1 year low of $350.60 and a 1 year high of $477.71. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $456.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $422.40. The company has a market cap of $201.63 billion, a PE ratio of 35.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 4th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Citigroup cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $460.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total value of $3,837,704.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 56,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,058,131.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 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 corporate insiders.

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.