Westport Asset Management Inc. Takes $4.29 Million Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Westport Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 9,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,292,000. Linde accounts for 2.0% of Westport Asset Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at about $420,720,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 47,830.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 936,076 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $446,377,000 after purchasing an additional 934,123 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the first quarter valued at approximately $210,480,000. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its stake in Linde by 108.7% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 784,477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $374,086,000 after buying an additional 408,659 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in Linde by 131.6% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 621,444 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $296,342,000 after buying an additional 353,136 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. This trade represents a 36.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on LIN. Barclays upped their price objective on 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 upped their price target on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $490.75.

Linde Stock Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ:LIN traded down $1.68 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $454.01. 261,903 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,840,592. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $396.07 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The company has a market capitalization of $216.18 billion, a PE ratio of 34.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $468.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $453.84.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

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

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.