Forsta AP Fonden Purchases 10,400 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Forsta AP Fonden increased its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 8.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 127,100 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,400 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Linde were worth $60,609,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Group LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the second quarter valued at $28,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the second quarter valued at $33,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kozak & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Linde in the third quarter worth $34,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $484.18.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Linde Stock Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ LIN traded down $0.70 on Friday, reaching $473.76. The company had a trading volume of 2,458,462 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,824,661. The company’s fifty day moving average is $472.24 and its 200-day moving average is $451.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.95. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $366.12 and a 1-year high of $487.49.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.31%.

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.