8,342 Shares in Linde PLC $LIN Bought by Nelson Capital Management LLC

Nelson Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 8,342 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,960,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. acquired a new position in Linde during the third quarter worth $611,786,000. Flossbach Von Storch SE acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the second quarter valued at about $438,525,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 3.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,344,181 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,558,016,000 after buying an additional 719,052 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 162.9% during the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,097,110 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $543,951,000 after buying an additional 679,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 394.8% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 629,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $312,240,000 after buying an additional 502,520 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,350 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.91, for a total value of $4,851,808.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,487,629.58. This trade represents a 29.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Matthew J. White sold 86,833 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $521.21, for a total transaction of $45,258,227.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 50,733 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,442,546.93. This trade represents a 63.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on LIN. Mizuho set a $583.00 target price on shares of Linde in a report on Thursday, October 29th. DZ Bank reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Berenberg Bank reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Linde from $535.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Linde from $549.00 to $568.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $553.05.

Linde Stock Up 0.7%

NASDAQ:LIN traded up $3.57 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $526.06. 1,250,794 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,091,660. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $490.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $496.20. Linde PLC has a one year low of $387.78 and a one year high of $548.20. The company has a market cap of $241.51 billion, a PE ratio of 34.95, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.67.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $4.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.52 by $0.07. Linde had a net margin of 19.34% and a return on equity of 20.32%. The firm had revenue of $9.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.21 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 17.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 3rd will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.52%.

Linde Profile

Linde plc is a global industrial gases and engineering company. It produces and supplies atmospheric gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and argon, as well as hydrogen, helium and specialty gases. The company also designs and builds equipment and facilities used to produce and process gases. Linde serves customers across industries including healthcare, manufacturing, chemicals, food and beverage, electronics and energy. Its operations span the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia-Pacific.