CWA Asset Management Group LLC Makes New Investment in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,624 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $775,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $420,720,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 47,830.2% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 936,076 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $446,377,000 after purchasing an additional 934,123 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 91.6% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 968,402 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $449,648,000 after purchasing an additional 463,096 shares during the last quarter. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter worth approximately $210,480,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $490.75.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the business'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 owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,136,996. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded down $3.37 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $456.11. The stock had a trading volume of 1,054,161 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,832,073. The company's 50-day moving average price is $471.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $452.40. The company has a market capitalization of $217.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 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 fifty-two week low of $395.00 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 for 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%. The firm's revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.63 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde's payout ratio is 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.