Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Purchased by Busey Bank

Busey Bank increased its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 42,224 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the quarter. Busey Bank’s holdings in Linde were worth $20,135,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Retirement Group LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Linde in the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 49.0% during the first quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 73 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the second quarter valued at about $42,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock opened at $474.46 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $471.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $450.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $362.33 and a 1 year high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.57 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were given a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total value of $4,639,068.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,136,996. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $477.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, August 30th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.