Linde PLC $LIN Shares Newly Purchased by UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp acquired a new stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,610 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $764,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the third quarter worth about $611,786,000. Flossbach Von Storch SE bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the second quarter valued at approximately $438,525,000. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Linde by 3.7% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,344,181 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,558,016,000 after purchasing an additional 719,052 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 162.9% in the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,097,110 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $543,951,000 after purchasing an additional 679,738 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 394.8% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 629,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $312,240,000 after buying an additional 502,520 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Argus cut their price objective on shares of Linde from $563.00 to $538.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 28th. Deutsche Bank reduced their price objective on shares of Linde from $580.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $542.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. DZ Bank restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $553.05.

Linde Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $522.49 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The company has a market cap of $239.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.67. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $387.78 and a 52 week high of $548.20. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $489.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $495.84.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, CFO Matthew White sold 86,833 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 50,733 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,442,546.93. The trade was a 63.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.91, for a total transaction of $4,851,808.50. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at $11,487,629.58. This trade represents a 29.69% decrease in their position. 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 currently owned by insiders.

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.