UBS Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Stock

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) had its target price increased by investment analysts at UBS Group from $574.00 to $585.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. UBS Group‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 13.76% from the stock’s current price.

LIN has been the subject of a number of other reports. Bank of America increased their price objective on Linde from $532.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Linde from $560.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Mizuho set a $583.00 price target on Linde in a research report on Thursday. Argus reduced their price target on Linde from $563.00 to $538.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 28th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Monday, October 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $550.67.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN opened at $514.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.72. Linde has a fifty-two week low of $387.78 and a fifty-two week high of $548.20. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $483.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $492.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $237.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.17, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $4.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.52 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $9.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.16 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.34% and a return on equity of 20.32%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.21 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Linde will post 17.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Linde

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Linde in the third quarter valued at approximately $611,786,000. Flossbach Von Storch SE acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the second quarter worth approximately $438,525,000. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Linde by 3.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,344,181 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,558,016,000 after purchasing an additional 719,052 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 162.9% during the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,097,110 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $543,951,000 after purchasing an additional 679,738 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 394.8% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 629,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $312,240,000 after purchasing an additional 502,520 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Linde

Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) is a global industrial gases and engineering company. It produces and distributes atmospheric gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and argon, as well as hydrogen, helium, carbon dioxide and specialty gases. The company serves customers through packaged gases, bulk deliveries, on-site production and pipeline systems.

Linde’s products and services support a broad range of industries, including healthcare, food and beverage, manufacturing, chemicals, energy, refining, electronics and metals.