Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Bought by Premier Fund Managers Ltd

Premier Fund Managers Ltd grew its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 16.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,069 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,297 shares during the period. Premier Fund Managers Ltd’s holdings in Linde were worth $21,605,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $43,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,136,996. The trade was a 36.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LIN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho increased their price objective on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $490.75.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $444.06 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $211.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a one year low of $396.07 and a one year high of $487.49. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $469.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $453.14.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

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

Linde Company 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.