Meridian Wealth Management LLC Grows Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,801 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $859,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LIN. SVB Wealth LLC raised its stake in Linde by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 3,460 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,606,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the period. Paloma Partners Management Co raised its position in shares of Linde by 120.8% during the first quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co now owns 622 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $289,000 after buying an additional 3,615 shares during the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 3.6% in the first quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 44,152 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,501,000 after buying an additional 1,525 shares in the last quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter worth $3,493,000. Finally, Bayesian Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Linde during the first quarter valued at $3,032,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays increased their price target on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America increased their target price on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned 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 $490.75.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $454.78 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $396.07 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The company has a market capitalization of $216.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.53, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $468.54 and its 200 day moving average is $453.48.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.63 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. This trade represents a 36.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.