Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Bought by Wrapmanager Inc.

Wrapmanager Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 15.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,534 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the period. Wrapmanager Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $673,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Retirement Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the second quarter worth $28,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Linde by 44.4% in the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America upped their price target 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 lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $484.18.

Insider Activity at Linde

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

Linde Stock Up 0.3 %

Linde stock opened at $468.81 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $223.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $361.02 and a 1-year high of $479.79. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $454.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $448.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The company 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 company posted $3.57 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

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.