Advisors Asset Management Inc. Has $10.30 Million Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 21.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 21,606 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,824 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $10,303,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the second quarter valued at $28,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the third quarter valued at $34,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the third quarter valued at $43,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the second quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 133.3% during the second quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 98 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on LIN shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America boosted their price target on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Seven 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, Linde currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $490.75.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was 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 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN traded up $1.87 on Thursday, hitting $452.01. 253,831 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,830,730. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $396.07 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $215.23 billion, a PE ratio of 34.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $469.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $453.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.63 EPS. The company's revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business 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. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.23%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

About Linde

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.