Cerity Partners LLC Buys 18,698 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 13.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 152,770 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,698 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $72,850,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the second quarter worth about $33,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Linde in the third quarter worth about $34,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Linde in the second quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Linde in the third quarter worth about $43,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on LIN shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho upped 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. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $490.75.

Linde Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of LIN stock opened at $454.78 on Friday. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $396.07 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $468.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $453.48. The company has a market cap of $216.55 billion, a PE ratio of 34.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (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 business 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 business posted $3.63 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.22%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

Linde 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.