Principal Securities Inc. Increases Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Principal Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,993 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,027 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $3,811,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in Linde by 46.9% in the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 48,211 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,593,000 after buying an additional 15,393 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 40.7% in the 1st quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 8,075 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,750,000 after buying an additional 2,337 shares during the last quarter. Choate Investment Advisors boosted 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 buying an additional 3,437 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its holdings in Linde by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 54,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,215,000 after buying an additional 2,312 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 28.7% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 20,071 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,319,000 after buying an additional 4,479 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $457.31 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $218.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.80, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $385.12 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The business’s 50 day moving average is $472.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $451.82.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.63 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.52 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.31%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Citigroup boosted their target price on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $490.75.

Linde Company 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.