KBC Group NV Buys 353,136 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 131.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 621,444 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 353,136 shares during the period. Linde makes up approximately 0.9% of KBC Group NV's holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. KBC Group NV owned 0.13% of Linde worth $296,342,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Huntington National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 4.3% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 188,642 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $89,956,000 after purchasing an additional 7,813 shares in the last quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. raised its position in Linde by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. now owns 815 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $389,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 27.1% in the 3rd quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 600 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $286,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Souders Financial Advisors boosted its position in Linde by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Souders Financial Advisors now owns 10,086 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,810,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Haverford Trust Co grew its stake in shares of Linde by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 10,196 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,862,000 after acquiring an additional 376 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays raised their price objective on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research 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 report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Linde has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $490.75.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,136,996. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN traded down $0.35 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $455.89. The company had a trading volume of 714,782 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,829,668. The company has a market capitalization of $217.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.94. 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 company's 50 day simple moving average is $470.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $452.61. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $396.07 and a 1-year high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.39 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. 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 business posted $3.63 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

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.