Temasek Holdings Private Ltd Raises Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Temasek Holdings Private Ltd increased its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 177,381 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 20,751 shares during the period. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd's holdings in Linde were worth $84,586,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Linde during the third quarter worth about $34,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the second quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Linde during the third quarter worth $43,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock traded up $1.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $449.67. The stock had a trading volume of 788,907 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,848,339. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $465.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $454.93. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $396.07 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $214.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.39 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. Linde's revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.63 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Linde's payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. This trade represents a 36.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.