Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Has $18.93 Million Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 29.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 43,141 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 9,704 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $18,931,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth $3,066,825,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in Linde by 566.9% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,833,465 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $851,314,000 after acquiring an additional 1,558,538 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Linde during the second quarter worth about $420,720,000. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 104.2% in the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 18,679 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $7,672,000 after purchasing an additional 468,415 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 91.6% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 968,402 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $449,648,000 after purchasing an additional 463,096 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Linde Stock Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ LIN traded up $5.52 on Friday, hitting $478.25. 1,385,635 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,899,248. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $448.28 and a 200 day moving average of $446.34. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $361.02 and a twelve month high of $479.79. The company has a market capitalization of $229.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.