Linde PLC $LIN Stock Purchased by Inspire Trust Co. N.A.

Inspire Trust Co. N.A. raised its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 15.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A.’s holdings in Linde were worth $7,120,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. now owns 5,437 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,581,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank purchased a new position in Linde during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,741,000. Moneco Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 19.0% during the third quarter. Moneco Advisors LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $614,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Linde during the 3rd quarter worth $29,424,000. Finally, Keybank National Association OH acquired a new position in Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at about $20,502,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $577.00 to $591.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Monday, October 5th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Linde from $574.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. Berenberg Bank reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $560.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $553.05.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 86,833 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $521.21, for a total value of $45,258,227.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 50,733 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,442,546.93. This trade represents a 63.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,350 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.91, for a total transaction of $4,851,808.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,487,629.58. This trade represents a 29.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Linde Trading Up 0.3%

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $521.78 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $487.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $495.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $239.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.67, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.86. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $387.78 and a 1 year high of $548.20.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $4.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.52 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $9.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.16 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 20.32% and a net margin of 19.34%. Linde’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.21 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 17.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 3rd will be paid a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 3rd. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.52%.

Linde Profile

Linde plc is a global industrial gases and engineering company. It produces and supplies atmospheric gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and argon, as well as hydrogen, helium and specialty gases. The company also designs and builds equipment and facilities used to produce and process gases. Linde serves customers across industries including healthcare, manufacturing, chemicals, food and beverage, electronics and energy. Its operations span the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia-Pacific.