Atom Investors LP Boosts Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Atom Investors LP boosted its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,269 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,028 shares during the period. Atom Investors LP's holdings in Linde were worth $5,851,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of LIN. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 372.8% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,288,088 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,567,958,000 after purchasing an additional 2,592,682 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $420,720,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $446,377,000 after buying an additional 934,123 shares in the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its position in shares of Linde by 108.7% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 784,477 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $374,086,000 after buying an additional 408,659 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its stake in Linde by 131.6% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 621,444 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $296,342,000 after acquiring an additional 353,136 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on LIN. Erste Group Bank restated a "hold" rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America boosted their target price on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Seven 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, Linde presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $490.75.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ:LIN traded down $1.30 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $459.69. 1,801,772 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,844,930. 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 has a market cap of $218.89 billion, a PE ratio of 34.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.94. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $467.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $454.55. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.63 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a dividend of $1.39 per share. 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%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This represents a 36.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.