Consolidated Planning Corp Buys New Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Consolidated Planning Corp bought a new position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 6,761 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $3,224,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in Linde by 566.9% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,833,465 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $851,314,000 after purchasing an additional 1,558,538 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Linde during the second quarter valued at $420,720,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Linde by 47,830.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 936,076 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $446,377,000 after purchasing an additional 934,123 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in Linde by 91.6% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 968,402 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $449,648,000 after purchasing an additional 463,096 shares in the last quarter. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Linde during the first quarter valued at $210,480,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Mizuho boosted 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. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. BMO Capital Markets boosted 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $490.75.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN stock traded down $5.99 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $459.48. 1,496,721 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,835,682. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $471.60 and a 200 day moving average of $452.30. 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 $390.38 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The company has a market cap of $218.79 billion, a PE ratio of 34.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business 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 for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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 paid a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde's dividend payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 $8,136,996. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

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.