Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Declares Dividend Increase – $1.50 Per Share

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 given a dividend of 1.50 per share by the basic materials company on Thursday, March 27th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39.

Linde has increased its dividend payment by an average of 37.9% per year over the last three years. Linde has a payout ratio of 30.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Price Performance

Linde stock opened at $461.40 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $439.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $454.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $219.70 billion, a PE ratio of 33.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Linde has a 12-month low of $410.69 and a 12-month high of $487.49.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on LIN shares. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, 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 acquired 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $441.34 per share, with a total value of $44,134.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $102,832.22. This represents a 75.19 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total transaction of $1,323,154.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 16,285 shares of company stock valued at $7,423,986 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.60% 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.