Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) Updates FY24 Earnings Guidance

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) updated its FY24 earnings guidance on Thursday. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $15.30-15.60 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $15.41.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. 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. UBS Group lowered Linde from a buy rating to a neutral rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Linde from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Mizuho upgraded Linde from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $510.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $460.00.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded down $23.36 during trading on Thursday, reaching $419.26. 1,523,116 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,181,586. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Linde has a fifty-two week low of $350.60 and a fifty-two week high of $477.71. The firm has a market cap of $201.91 billion, a PE ratio of 35.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $456.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $422.40.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The business had revenue of $8.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.38 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.42 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Linde will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the company’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 owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Linde news, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $26,058,131.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the vice president now 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 sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.