Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Purchased by Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 8,683 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $4,141,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new stake in Linde in the 1st quarter worth about $550,000. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Linde during the 1st quarter worth $215,000. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in shares of Linde by 46.9% in the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 48,211 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,593,000 after buying an additional 15,393 shares during the last quarter. Pitcairn Co. lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 20.6% in the first quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 3,494 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,622,000 after buying an additional 598 shares in the last quarter. Finally, InterOcean Capital Group LLC boosted its position in Linde by 12.5% during the first quarter. InterOcean Capital Group LLC now owns 730 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $339,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total value of $4,639,068.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. This trade represents a 36.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on LIN. Bank of America raised their target price 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. Mizuho upped their price objective on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays increased their target price on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $490.75.

Linde Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Linde stock opened at $448.57 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market cap of $213.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $396.07 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $469.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $453.00.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The business’s revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.63 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

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.