36,627 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN Acquired by Kimelman & Baird LLC

Key Points

• Kimelman & Baird acquired 36,627 Linde shares in the third quarter, worth about $17.4 million; the stake represents 1.2% of the firm’s portfolio.
• Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.8% of Linde. Analysts have a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $553.05.
• Linde beat quarterly estimates, reporting EPS of $4.59 and revenue of $9.4 billion, up 9.3% year over year. It also announced a $1.60 quarterly dividend.

Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 36,627 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $17,385,000. Linde accounts for about 1.2% of Kimelman & Baird LLC's holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sanders Morris Harris LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the third quarter valued at $847,000. Carderock Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Linde during the 3rd quarter worth $7,498,000. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Linde during the 3rd quarter worth $1,875,000. First Financial Bank Trust Division bought a new position in Linde during the 3rd quarter worth $4,034,000. Finally, Hikari Power Ltd acquired a new position in Linde during the 2nd quarter worth about $20,965,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on LIN. Berenberg Bank reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. DZ Bank reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Linde from $560.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Linde in a report on Thursday, October 8th. One equities research 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $553.05.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,350 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.91, for a total value of $4,851,808.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,487,629.58. The trade was a 29.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Matthew J. White sold 86,833 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $521.21, for a total value of $45,258,227.93. Following the completion of the sale, 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Trading Down 1.1%

LIN opened at $515.25 on Friday. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $387.78 and a twelve month high of $548.20. The company has a fifty day moving average of $486.57 and a 200-day moving average of $494.34. The stock has a market cap of $236.54 billion, a PE ratio of 34.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $4.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.21 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 17.89 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 3rd will be paid 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 of this dividend is Thursday, December 3rd. Linde's payout ratio is currently 42.52%.

Linde Company 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.

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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