Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Buys 13,193 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 535,295 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 13,193 shares during the period. Linde accounts for approximately 0.6% of Royal London Asset Management Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.11% of Linde worth $255,261,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Port Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.1% during the third quarter. Port Capital LLC now owns 173,289 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $82,635,000 after acquiring an additional 1,864 shares in the last quarter. Maren Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 1.6% during the third quarter. Maren Capital LLC now owns 195,376 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $93,167,000 after purchasing an additional 3,149 shares during the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 22.6% during the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,075 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,942,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares during the period. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the third quarter worth about $59,777,000. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 7,288 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,476,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Linde Stock Performance

LIN stock traded down $9.46 on Thursday, reaching $449.99. The company's stock had a trading volume of 743,919 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,846,110. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $466.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $454.97. The company has a market capitalization of $214.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.93. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $396.07 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.63 EPS. Linde's revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other 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 transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. The trade was a 36.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

Linde Company 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.