Larson Financial Group LLC Acquires 670 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 212.0% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 986 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 670 shares during the quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $470,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LIN. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Linde in the third quarter valued at $34,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Linde during the third quarter valued at about $43,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new stake in Linde during the second quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. lifted its stake in Linde by 133.3% during the second quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 98 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on LIN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Mizuho boosted 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $490.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This represents a 36.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Linde Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ LIN opened at $455.69 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $216.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $396.07 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $468.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $453.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.96.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Linde 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.