BDF Gestion Purchases 2,500 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

BDF Gestion lifted its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 22.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,500 shares during the period. BDF Gestion’s holdings in Linde were worth $6,438,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in Linde by 46.9% in the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 48,211 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,593,000 after acquiring an additional 15,393 shares during the period. Vident Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 40.7% during the 1st quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 8,075 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,750,000 after buying an additional 2,337 shares in the last quarter. Choate Investment Advisors increased its holdings in Linde by 23.6% in the 1st quarter. Choate Investment Advisors now owns 18,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,366,000 after acquiring an additional 3,437 shares in the last quarter. Norden Group LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the first quarter valued at approximately $5,041,000. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 28.7% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 20,071 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,319,000 after purchasing an additional 4,479 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup increased their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Barclays boosted their price target on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, UBS Group cut 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. Six equities research 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $484.18.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total value of $4,639,068.75. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,136,996. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded up $2.41 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $479.99. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 790,835 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,839,258. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $466.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $449.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $361.02 and a 12 month high of $483.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $230.72 billion, a PE ratio of 37.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results 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. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.57 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

Linde Profile

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.