Stratos Investment Management LLC Grows Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Stratos Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 9.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 980 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Stratos Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $467,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Retirement Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the first quarter worth $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 49.0% in the first quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 73 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Linde in the second quarter worth approximately $42,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $486.45 on Friday. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $361.02 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $233.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $469.63 and a 200 day moving average of $450.58.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.57 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were paid a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on LIN. 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 research report on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays upped their price target on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $477.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $484.18.

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.