Riverbridge Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Linde PLC $LIN

Riverbridge Partners LLC bought a new stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 67,188 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,891,000.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Linde during the third quarter worth approximately $611,786,000. Flossbach Von Storch SE acquired a new position in Linde in the second quarter valued at approximately $438,525,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Linde by 3.7% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,344,181 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,558,016,000 after buying an additional 719,052 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in Linde by 162.9% in the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,097,110 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $543,951,000 after buying an additional 679,738 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 394.8% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 629,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $312,240,000 after buying an additional 502,520 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,350 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.91, for a total value of $4,851,808.50. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at $11,487,629.58. This trade represents a 29.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 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 Linde stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 50,733 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,442,546.93. The trade was a 63.12% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on LIN shares. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $532.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $535.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Argus dropped their target price on shares of Linde from $563.00 to $538.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $553.05.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $521.78 on Wednesday. Linde PLC has a one year low of $387.78 and a one year high of $548.20. The company has a market cap of $239.54 billion, a PE ratio of 34.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $487.83 and a 200-day moving average of $495.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.72.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $4.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.52 by $0.07. The business 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.21 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 17.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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

Linde 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.