Hartford Funds Management Co LLC Buys 94 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Hartford Funds Management Co LLC lifted its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,359 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 94 shares during the period. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $648,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Summit Trail Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 27.2% in the third quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 8,517 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,061,000 after buying an additional 1,822 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in Linde by 212.0% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 986 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $470,000 after purchasing an additional 670 shares in the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Linde by 6.6% in the third quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,229 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,493,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in Linde by 13.9% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 152,770 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $72,850,000 after purchasing an additional 18,698 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nwam LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the third quarter worth about $495,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total value of $4,639,068.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This trade represents a 36.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on LIN shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $490.75.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $454.78 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market cap of $216.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $468.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $453.48. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $396.07 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.63 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a $1.39 dividend. 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 42.22%.

Linde 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.