Holocene Advisors LP Purchases 9,213 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Holocene Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 11.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 91,908 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 9,213 shares during the quarter. Holocene Advisors LP's holdings in Linde were worth $43,827,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in Linde in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in Linde in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Linde in the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in Linde in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Linde in the third quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $490.75.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN traded down $0.55 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $457.75. The company had a trading volume of 828,488 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,844,938. 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 stock has a market cap of $217.96 billion, a PE ratio of 34.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.93. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $396.07 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $467.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $454.55.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.39 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.63 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the company'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 transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the sale, 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 position. The sale 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.

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.