Financial Counselors Inc. Has $1.35 Million Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Financial Counselors Inc. raised its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,826 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,348,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the second quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter worth $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the topic of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho lifted their target price on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $490.75.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 directly 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN opened at $460.99 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $467.20 and its 200-day moving average is $454.23. The firm has a market cap of $219.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $396.07 and a 12-month 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.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued 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. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.63 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

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.