Public Sector Pension Investment Board Increases Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 14.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,959 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,700 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in Linde were worth $9,995,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LIN. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its stake in shares of Linde by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 54,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,215,000 after purchasing an additional 2,312 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 3.1% in the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 51,540 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $22,616,000 after buying an additional 1,564 shares in the last quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd raised its stake in shares of Linde by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 196,036 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $93,457,000 after buying an additional 1,811 shares during the period. M&G Plc lifted its position in shares of Linde by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. M&G Plc now owns 185,903 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $81,611,000 after buying an additional 2,252 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&G PLC grew its stake in Linde by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 190,615 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $90,923,000 after acquiring an additional 4,712 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on LIN. Barclays upped 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $490.75.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock opened at $457.12 on Friday. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $396.07 and a 52-week high of $487.49. 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 stock has a market cap of $217.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a fifty day moving average of $467.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $454.04.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion for 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.63 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. The trade was a 36.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.