Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $1.50

Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 26th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of 1.50 per share by the basic materials company on Thursday, March 27th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39.

Linde has raised its dividend by an average of 37.9% per year over the last three years. Linde has a payout ratio of 30.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Linde to earn $18.02 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 30.9%.

Linde Trading Down 1.2 %

Linde stock traded down $5.41 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $462.08. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 939,990 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,211,368. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $438.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $454.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Linde has a 12 month low of $410.69 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $220.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. As a group, analysts forecast that Linde will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on LIN. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. TD Cowen raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $501.82.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds bought 100 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $441.34 per share, with a total value of $44,134.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $102,832.22. The trade was a 75.19 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total value of $963,388.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 16,285 shares of company stock worth $7,423,986 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Company Profile

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.