Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Purchased by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 147.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 32,698 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,459 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Linde were worth $15,592,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 566.9% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,833,465 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $851,314,000 after acquiring an additional 1,558,538 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Linde in the second quarter valued at $420,720,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 47,830.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 936,076 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $446,377,000 after purchasing an additional 934,123 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 91.6% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 968,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $449,648,000 after purchasing an additional 463,096 shares during the last quarter. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Linde in the first quarter valued at $210,480,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on LIN shares. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $477.00 price target on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, August 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $484.18.

Linde Stock Down 0.1 %

LIN opened at $473.76 on Friday. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $366.12 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $472.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $451.19. The company has a market cap of $226.22 billion, a PE ratio of 36.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.57 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were issued a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.17%. Linde’s payout ratio is 42.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This represents a 0.00 % 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 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.