Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Purchased by First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA

First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA grew its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,633 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 160 shares during the period. First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA’s holdings in Linde were worth $779,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Linde during the third quarter worth $43,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the second quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. lifted its holdings in Linde by 133.3% in the 2nd quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 98 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $8,136,996. The trade was a 36.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on LIN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $490.75.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of Linde stock traded up $2.17 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $458.77. The stock had a trading volume of 150,338 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,843,502. The business has a fifty day moving average of $467.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $454.00. The firm has a market cap of $218.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.67, a PEG ratio of 2.92 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 company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion for 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 firm’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.63 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 42.22%.

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.