Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Bought by E Fund Management Co. Ltd.

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 7,110 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 405 shares during the period. E Fund Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Linde were worth $3,120,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Members Trust Co raised its position in Linde by 3.7% during the first quarter. Members Trust Co now owns 646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $300,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the period. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 1.3% in the first quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,787 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $830,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Linde by 44.4% in the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 49.0% in the first quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 73 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CNB Bank raised its position in shares of Linde by 2.9% in the first quarter. CNB Bank now owns 847 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $393,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $477.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $484.18.

Linde Stock Down 0.7 %

Linde stock opened at $471.66 on Wednesday. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $361.02 and a twelve month high of $479.79. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $456.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $449.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.57 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,136,996. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.