Meridian Wealth Management LLC Acquires 156 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 9.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,801 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 156 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $859,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its position in shares of Linde by 4.4% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 54,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,215,000 after purchasing an additional 2,312 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 28.7% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 20,071 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,319,000 after buying an additional 4,479 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 3.1% during the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 51,540 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $22,616,000 after buying an additional 1,564 shares during the period. M&G Plc grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.2% during the second quarter. M&G Plc now owns 185,903 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $81,611,000 after buying an additional 2,252 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Waverton Investment Management Ltd increased its position in shares of Linde by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 196,036 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $93,457,000 after acquiring an additional 1,811 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total value of $4,639,068.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This trade represents a 36.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on LIN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $490.75.

Linde Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Linde stock opened at $454.78 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $468.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $453.48. 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 fifty-two week low of $396.07 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The company has a market cap of $216.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.63 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.22%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.22%.

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.