Natixis Advisors LLC Acquires 49,827 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 9.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 594,262 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 49,827 shares during the quarter. Linde accounts for about 0.6% of Natixis Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Natixis Advisors LLC owned about 0.12% of Linde worth $283,380,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in Linde by 566.9% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,833,465 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $851,314,000 after buying an additional 1,558,538 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at $420,720,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 47,830.2% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 936,076 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $446,377,000 after purchasing an additional 934,123 shares in the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Linde in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $210,480,000. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its stake in shares of Linde by 108.7% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 784,477 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $374,086,000 after acquiring an additional 408,659 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was 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. This represents a 36.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets increased 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $490.75.

Linde Stock Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ LIN traded down $4.39 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $449.10. 2,417,805 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,836,589. The company has a 50 day moving average of $470.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $452.64. The firm has a market cap of $213.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.10, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $396.07 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.63 earnings per share. Linde's quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde's dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

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.