Prosperity Consulting Group LLC Acquires 53 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Prosperity Consulting Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,187 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 53 shares during the quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,398,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Linde by 0.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,676,156 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,744,033,000 after buying an additional 405,952 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Linde by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,796,924 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,434,406,000 after acquiring an additional 141,322 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,066,825,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its position in Linde by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 3,959,993 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,624,462,000 after purchasing an additional 138,585 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Linde by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,893,414 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,343,470,000 after buying an additional 66,880 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $468.81 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $454.53 and its 200 day moving average is $448.65. The stock has a market cap of $223.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $361.02 and a 52-week high of $479.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.57 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,136,996. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on LIN shares. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $477.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price 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. Bank of America lifted their price target 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, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $484.18.

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.