Ascent Group LLC Boosts Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Ascent Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 27.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,354 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 1,387 shares during the quarter. Ascent Group LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $2,788,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Retirement Group LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the first quarter worth $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 49.0% during the 1st quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 73 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A bought a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total value of $4,639,068.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,136,996. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of Linde stock traded down $2.17 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $479.51. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,252,607 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,553,813. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $461.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $449.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market cap of $228.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.20, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a one year low of $361.02 and a one year high of $483.36.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.57 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were paid a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.16%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on LIN shares. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Barclays raised their price objective on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $477.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $484.18.

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.