LS Investment Advisors LLC Has $10.23 Million Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

LS Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 21,456 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the quarter. Linde comprises 1.5% of LS Investment Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. LS Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $10,232,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Portside Wealth Group LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 7.1% in the third quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 789 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $376,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp bought a new stake in Linde in the 3rd quarter worth about $3,224,000. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at about $207,000. Graypoint LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 3,999 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,907,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares during the period. Finally, Blake Schutter Theil Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at about $225,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Mizuho upped their price objective on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America lifted their price target on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays lifted their price target on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $490.75.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock opened at $465.47 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market cap of $221.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s fifty day moving average is $472.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $452.12. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $389.14 and a 52 week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. The firm 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%. The company’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.63 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.19%. Linde’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related 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 value of $4,639,068.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,136,996. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.60% of the stock is currently 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.