Cerity Partners LLC Acquires 18,698 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 13.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 152,770 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 18,698 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $72,850,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its position in shares of Linde by 4.4% during the third 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. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 28.7% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 20,071 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,319,000 after purchasing an additional 4,479 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 3.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,564 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc boosted its position in shares of Linde by 1.2% during the second quarter. M&G Plc now owns 185,903 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $81,611,000 after purchasing an additional 2,252 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Waverton Investment Management Ltd boosted its position in shares of Linde by 0.9% during the third quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 196,036 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $93,457,000 after purchasing an additional 1,811 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on LIN. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays lifted their price objective on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $490.75.

Linde Stock Down 0.1 %

LIN stock opened at $454.78 on Friday. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $396.07 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $468.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $453.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $216.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.63 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This represents a 36.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Linde 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.