Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Bought by National Bank of Canada FI

National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 59,184 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 10,643 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI's holdings in Linde were worth $27,647,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the third quarter worth $34,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in Linde in the second quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Linde during the 3rd quarter worth about $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Linde

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho boosted their target price on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $490.75.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock traded up $2.23 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $444.81. 2,107,150 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,859,575. 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 company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.96. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $464.12 and its 200-day simple moving average 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The company's revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.63 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.