2,697 Linde PLC $LIN Shares Bought by Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC

Key Points

• Ashton Thomas Private Wealth increased its Linde stake 27.9% in the third quarter, adding 2,697 shares to hold 12,381 shares valued at about $5.9 million.
• Linde beat quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting EPS of $4.59 and revenue of $9.40 billion; revenue rose 9.3% year over year. Analysts’ consensus rating was “Moderate Buy,” with an average price target of $553.05.
• Linde declared a quarterly dividend of $1.60 per share, equivalent to $6.40 annually and a 1.2% yield.

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 27.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,381 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 2,697 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $5,876,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of LIN. Sanders Morris Harris LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the 3rd quarter worth about $847,000. Carderock Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at about $7,498,000. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,875,000. First Financial Bank Trust Division purchased a new position in Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,034,000. Finally, Hikari Power Ltd purchased a new position in Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at about $20,965,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the topic of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $580.00 price target on shares of Linde and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $549.00 to $568.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Monday, October 5th. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Linde from $574.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $553.05.

Linde Trading Down 1.1%

NASDAQ LIN opened at $515.25 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $236.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.67. Linde PLC has a 12 month low of $387.78 and a 12 month high of $548.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The company has a 50-day moving average of $486.57 and a 200-day moving average of $494.34.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its 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. Linde had a net margin of 19.34% and a return on equity of 20.32%. The business had revenue of $9.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.16 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.21 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 17.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 3rd will be paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 3rd. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, CFO Matthew White sold 86,833 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $521.21, for a total value of $45,258,227.93. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 50,733 shares in the company, valued at $26,442,546.93. This trade represents a 63.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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 business'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 sale, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,487,629.58. This represents a 29.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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.

About Linde

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.

The company was formed in 2018 through the merger of Germany's Linde AG and U.S.-based Praxair, bringing together businesses with long histories in industrial gases and engineering.

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