Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators Reduces Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lessened its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 630 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 53 shares during the quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators’ holdings in Linde were worth $300,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Linde in the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in Linde during the second quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Bangor Savings Bank boosted its position in shares of Linde by 62.9% during the second quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 101 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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 target on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America raised 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. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. 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 report on Monday, August 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $490.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock opened at $462.63 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $472.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $452.12. The stock has a market cap of $220.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $385.12 and a 12-month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (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 the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.63 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.