Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators

Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators decreased its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 630 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 53 shares during the quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators’ holdings in Linde were worth $300,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norden Group LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the first quarter valued at about $315,000. Advisory Services Network LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 13,807 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,411,000 after buying an additional 414 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 37,838 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,569,000 after buying an additional 1,553 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 104.9% in the first quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 3,777 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,754,000 after buying an additional 1,934 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Motive Wealth Advisors acquired a new position in Linde during the first quarter worth $247,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $490.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related 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 sale, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Linde Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of LIN opened at $462.63 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $385.12 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $220.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $472.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $452.12.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.63 EPS. Linde’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

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.