E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Purchases 405 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,110 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 405 shares during the quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Linde were worth $3,120,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Members Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Linde by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Members Trust Co now owns 646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $300,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,787 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $830,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Linde by 44.4% during the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Linde by 49.0% during the 1st quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 73 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CNB Bank grew its position in Linde by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. CNB Bank now owns 847 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $393,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Down 0.7 %

LIN stock opened at $471.66 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $456.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $449.00. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $361.02 and a 12 month high of $479.79. The company has a market capitalization of $226.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.57 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. Barclays boosted their target price 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. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $484.18.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $8,136,996. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.