Calamos Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Calamos Advisors LLC grew its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 247,691 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 8,929 shares during the quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC owned about 0.05% of Linde worth $108,689,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Retirement Group LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. First Pacific Financial acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 44.4% in the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 310.0% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 82 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on LIN shares. Citigroup increased their target price on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Linde from $475.00 to $477.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Bank of America increased their price target on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $484.18.

Linde Trading Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ LIN traded up $4.03 during trading on Friday, hitting $465.74. The stock had a trading volume of 1,307,962 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,919,406. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $361.02 and a twelve month high of $477.71. The company has a market capitalization of $223.87 billion, a PE ratio of 36.13, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $445.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $444.80.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.57 earnings per share. Linde's revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. Linde's payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

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.