Compass Capital Management Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Linde PLC $LIN

Compass Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 106,311 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,461,000. Linde accounts for about 3.2% of Compass Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in LIN. Valmark Advisers Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at $2,009,000. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd acquired a new stake in Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at $3,571,000. PFC Capital Group Inc. increased its stake in Linde by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. PFC Capital Group Inc. now owns 2,767 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,313,000 after buying an additional 179 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in Linde by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 18,212 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,451,000 after buying an additional 1,180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of Linde by 8.3% during the third quarter. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. now owns 4,735 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,247,000 after acquiring an additional 361 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on LIN shares. Argus cut their price target on Linde from $563.00 to $538.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 28th. Weiss Ratings lowered Linde from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Mizuho set a $583.00 price target on shares of Linde in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Linde from $535.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $532.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $553.05.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.91, for a total value of $4,851,808.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,487,629.58. This represents a 29.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Matthew J. White sold 86,833 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $521.21, for a total transaction of $45,258,227.93. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 50,733 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,442,546.93. This trade represents a 63.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $526.06 on Friday. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $387.78 and a 1 year high of $548.20. The firm has a market cap of $241.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.95, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $490.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $496.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.86.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $4.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.52 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $9.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.16 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 20.32% and a net margin of 19.34%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.21 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 17.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 3rd will be issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 3rd. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 42.52%.

About Linde

Linde plc is a global industrial gases and engineering company. It produces and supplies atmospheric gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and argon, as well as hydrogen, helium and specialty gases. The company also designs and builds equipment and facilities used to produce and process gases. Linde serves customers across industries including healthcare, manufacturing, chemicals, food and beverage, electronics and energy. Its operations span the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia-Pacific.