Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Increases Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 137.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 242,015 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 139,881 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in Linde were worth $115,407,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in Linde by 28.7% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 20,071 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,319,000 after purchasing an additional 4,479 shares during the period. First Western Trust Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the first quarter worth $220,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its position in shares of Linde by 3.6% in the first quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 31,746 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $14,741,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. Wahed Invest LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 16.5% in the first quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 9,567 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,442,000 after acquiring an additional 1,352 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. increased its position in shares of Linde by 7.0% in the first quarter. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. now owns 1,297 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $602,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $490.75.

Insider Transactions 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 shares were 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. This trade represents a 36.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $456.60 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $217.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.94. 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 $396.07 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $467.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $454.00.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.22%. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Linde Company 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.