Northwest Investment Counselors LLC Makes New $151,000 Investment in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 317 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $151,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 566.9% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,833,465 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $851,314,000 after purchasing an additional 1,558,538 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the 2nd quarter worth $420,720,000. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 91.6% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 968,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $449,648,000 after buying an additional 463,096 shares in the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter valued at $210,480,000. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 108.7% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 784,477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $374,086,000 after acquiring an additional 408,659 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on LIN. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $477.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $484.18.

Linde Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of LIN traded down $3.44 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $483.01. 462,723 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,826,002. The company has a market capitalization of $232.17 billion, a PE ratio of 37.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The business has a 50 day moving average of $469.63 and a 200 day moving average of $450.50. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $361.02 and a 1-year high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.57 EPS. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.15%. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 43.13%.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde 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.