Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Stake Lifted by International Assets Investment Management LLC

International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 47,830.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 936,076 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 934,123 shares during the quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC owned about 0.20% of Linde worth $446,377,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Monte Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 6.0% during the third quarter. Monte Financial Group LLC now owns 2,458 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,172,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. Fulcrum Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Fulcrum Capital LLC now owns 13,764 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,564,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Wallington Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wallington Asset Management LLC now owns 70,805 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,764,000 after purchasing an additional 2,106 shares in the last quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. lifted its stake in Linde by 2.2% during the third quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. now owns 1,686 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $820,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TFG Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 0.7% during the third quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 3,639 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,735,000 after buying an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $474.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market cap of $226.55 billion, a PE ratio of 36.11, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $471.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $450.99. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $362.33 and a twelve month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.57 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th were issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.31%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup increased their price objective on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $477.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $484.18.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde 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 approximately $8,136,996. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.