West Family Investments Inc. Has $976,000 Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

West Family Investments Inc. grew its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 10.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,047 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the quarter. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $976,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Linde during the third quarter worth about $43,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This trade represents a 36.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $443.11 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $469.79 and a 200-day moving average of $453.00. The company has a market cap of $210.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $396.07 and a 52 week high of $487.49.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $490.75.

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.