Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Director Paula Rosput Reynolds Acquires 100 Shares

Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Director Paula Rosput Reynolds bought 100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $441.34 per share, with a total value of $44,134.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $102,832.22. This trade represents a 75.19 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $435.30 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $461.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $455.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.96. Linde plc has a one year low of $396.07 and a one year high of $487.49. The company has a market cap of $207.27 billion, a PE ratio of 33.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.63 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.22%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LIN. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in Linde during the second quarter worth approximately $42,000. Rockingstone Advisors LLC lifted its position in Linde by 0.5% in the second quarter. Rockingstone Advisors LLC now owns 8,267 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,628,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Linde in the second quarter valued at $420,720,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Linde by 1.9% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 13,239 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,809,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the second quarter valued at $319,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $490.75.

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.