Linde PLC $LIN Shares Newly Bought by CenterBook Partners LP

CenterBook Partners LP bought a new position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 36,426 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,290,000. Linde comprises approximately 0.8% of CenterBook Partners LP’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC grew its position in Linde by 74.2% during the second quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 54 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 96.6% in the 1st quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 57 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 1,450.0% in the 1st quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC now owns 62 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 transaction of $4,851,808.50. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible 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 company’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 directly 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 ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on LIN shares. DZ Bank reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Thursday, August 6th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Linde from $542.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Linde from $549.00 to $568.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Linde from $574.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Finally, Mizuho set a $583.00 price objective on Linde in a report on Thursday, October 29th. One investment 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $553.05.

Linde Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded down $5.98 during trading on Friday, reaching $515.25. 2,394,914 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,075,647. The firm has a market capitalization of $236.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.67. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $387.78 and a 52-week high of $548.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The business’s fifty day moving average is $486.57 and its 200-day moving average is $494.34.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $4.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.52 by $0.07. Linde had a net margin of 19.34% and a return on equity of 20.32%. The firm had revenue of $9.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $4.21 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 17.89 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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

Linde Company Profile

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.

The company was formed in 2018 through the merger of Germany’s Linde AG and U.S.-based Praxair, bringing together businesses with long histories in industrial gases and engineering.