1,500 Shares in Linde PLC $LIN Bought by Point Windward Advisors Inc.

Point Windward Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 1,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $712,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 74.2% during the second quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 54 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. JCIC Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Linde in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID lifted its holdings in Linde by 96.6% in the first quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 57 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the third quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Polaris Financial Partners bought a new stake in Linde during the third quarter valued at $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $522.49 on Friday. Linde PLC has a one year low of $387.78 and a one year high of $548.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $239.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.72, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.67. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $489.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $495.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.72.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 3rd will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $580.00 price target on Linde and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Linde from $535.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. UBS Group upped their target price on Linde from $574.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Argus cut their target price on Linde from $563.00 to $538.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $553.05.

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.