Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Purchases 73,445 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 73,445 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $34,860,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at about $611,786,000. Flossbach Von Storch SE bought a new stake in Linde during the second quarter worth about $438,525,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in Linde by 3.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,344,181 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $10,558,016,000 after purchasing an additional 719,052 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in Linde by 162.9% during the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,097,110 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $543,951,000 after purchasing an additional 679,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in Linde by 394.8% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 629,820 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $312,240,000 after purchasing an additional 502,520 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $515.25 on Monday. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $387.78 and a 52-week high of $548.20. The company has a market capitalization of $236.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $486.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $494.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.86.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $4.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.52 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $9.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.16 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 20.32% and a net margin of 19.34%. Linde's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $4.21 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 17.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 3rd will be issued 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 dividend yield of 1.2%. Linde's payout ratio is presently 42.52%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings lowered Linde from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. UBS Group upped their price objective on Linde from $574.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Linde from $580.00 to $575.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Mizuho set a $583.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Linde from $532.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $553.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 86,833 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $521.21, for a total transaction 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 $26,442,546.93. This trade represents a 63.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 Linde stock in a transaction on Monday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.91, for a total transaction of $4,851,808.50. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,487,629.58. This trade represents a 29.69% 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 currently owned by insiders.

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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