M&T Bank Corp Increases Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

M&T Bank Corp grew its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 6.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 79,472 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 5,021 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp's holdings in Linde were worth $37,898,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 4.4% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 54,975 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $26,215,000 after purchasing an additional 2,312 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 16.8% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 9,604 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,580,000 after purchasing an additional 1,383 shares during the last quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.9% during the third quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 196,036 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $93,457,000 after purchasing an additional 1,811 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 3.1% during the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 51,540 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $22,616,000 after purchasing an additional 1,564 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atom Investors LP grew its position in Linde by 19.8% during the third quarter. Atom Investors LP now owns 12,269 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $5,851,000 after buying an additional 2,028 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Erste Group Bank reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $490.75.

Linde Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of LIN stock traded up $2.23 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $444.81. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,107,150 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,859,575. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The company has a market capitalization of $211.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.93. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $464.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $455.40. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.63 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde's payout ratio is 42.22%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total value of $2,020,301.05. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 22,776 shares in the company, valued at $10,493,586.48. This represents a 16.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

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.