Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. Raises Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. lifted its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,340 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.’s holdings in Linde were worth $2,070,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Retirement Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in Linde in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded up $0.21 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $480.92. 189,489 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,834,441. The company has a market capitalization of $231.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $467.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $450.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $361.02 and a twelve month high of $483.36.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.30 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.57 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.16%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.