Sanctuary Advisors LLC Purchases 2,999 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 7.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 44,908 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,999 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $20,423,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 1.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,973,175 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $5,217,197,000 after purchasing an additional 154,792 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in Linde by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,449,218 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,513,551,000 after buying an additional 15,187 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Linde by 372.8% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,288,088 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,567,958,000 after buying an additional 2,592,682 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in Linde by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,112,160 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,365,647,000 after acquiring an additional 218,746 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Linde by 1.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,015,882 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,438,154,000 after acquiring an additional 50,882 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Mizuho boosted their target price on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $490.75.

Linde Price Performance

LIN traded down $4.13 on Friday, hitting $434.37. 905,617 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,854,671. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $462.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $455.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Linde plc has a one year low of $396.07 and a one year high of $487.49. The firm has a market cap of $206.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.63 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde's dividend payout ratio is 42.22%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other news, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds acquired 100 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $441.34 per share, with a total value of $44,134.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $102,832.22. This trade represents a 75.19 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total value of $2,020,301.05. Following the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.