Raymond James Trust N.A. Buys 88 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A.’s holdings in Linde were worth $4,757,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in Linde by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,449,218 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,513,551,000 after purchasing an additional 15,187 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in shares of Linde by 7.6% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,112,160 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,365,647,000 after buying an additional 218,746 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,015,882 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,438,154,000 after buying an additional 50,882 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its position in Linde by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,374,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,130,986,000 after buying an additional 56,775 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in Linde by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,993,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $874,908,000 after buying an additional 160,355 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $454.78 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $468.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $453.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.96. The company has a market capitalization of $216.55 billion, a PE ratio of 34.53, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $396.07 and a 52 week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.63 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 42.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on LIN. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho upped their price objective on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays increased their price objective on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $490.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total value of $4,639,068.75. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this link. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.