Prospera Private Wealth LLC Has $1.96 Million Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Prospera Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 760.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,114 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 3,636 shares during the period. Prospera Private Wealth LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $1,962,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the second quarter valued at $28,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the third quarter valued at about $34,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the second quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the third quarter worth about $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 17,584 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,136,996. This trade represents a 36.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Erste Group Bank restated a "hold" rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $490.75.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN traded up $2.30 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $446.36. The company's stock had a trading volume of 555,130 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,831,515. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $396.07 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $469.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $453.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $212.54 billion, a PE ratio of 33.72, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.63 EPS. Linde's revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side 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 issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. Linde's payout ratio is 42.22%.

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.