67,188 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN Bought by Riverbridge Partners LLC

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

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Sanders Morris Harris LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $847,000. Carderock Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the third quarter valued at approximately $7,498,000. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,875,000. First Financial Bank Trust Division purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the third quarter valued at approximately $4,034,000. Finally, Annex Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the third quarter worth $2,187,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on LIN. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $580.00 price objective on Linde and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Linde from $542.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on Linde from $580.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Bank of America lifted their target price on Linde from $532.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $549.00 to $568.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $553.05.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 86,833 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $521.21, for a total value of $45,258,227.93. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 50,733 shares in the company, valued at $26,442,546.93. The trade was a 63.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at $11,487,629.58. This represents a 29.69% 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. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Up 0.3%

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

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $9.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.16 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.34% and a return on equity of 20.32%. Linde’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.21 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 17.89 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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