Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co Purchases Shares of 42,058 Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co purchased a new position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 42,058 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,463,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LIN. Retirement Group LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 49.0% in the 1st quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 73 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 44.4% in the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Stock Down 0.7 %

LIN opened at $471.66 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $456.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $449.00. The company has a market cap of $226.72 billion, a PE ratio of 36.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $361.02 and a 1 year high of $479.79. 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 (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.57 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on LIN. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $477.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of 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. lifted their target price 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. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $484.18.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,136,996. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.