3,475 Linde PLC $LIN Shares Acquired by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 14.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,362 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,475 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Linde were worth $13,462,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. JCIC Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Linde during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID lifted its stake in Linde by 96.6% in the first quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 57 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 74.2% in 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 period. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Polaris Financial Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling 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 transaction 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 $11,487,629.58. This trade represents a 29.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Matthew 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 50,733 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,442,546.93. This trade represents a 63.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Argus cut their target price on shares of Linde from $563.00 to $538.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Linde from $549.00 to $568.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Deutsche Bank decreased their price target on shares of Linde from $580.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $560.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $580.00 price objective on shares of Linde and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $553.05.

Linde Stock Up 0.9%

LIN opened at $526.55 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $488.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $495.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The company has a market cap of $241.73 billion, a PE ratio of 34.99, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.67. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $387.78 and a 52 week high of $548.20.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Linde had a return on equity of 20.32% and a net margin of 19.34%. The company had revenue of $9.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.16 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.21 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 17.89 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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