23,336 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN Purchased by New Mexico Educational Retirement Board

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board acquired a new position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 23,336 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,076,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of LIN. Atwood & Palmer Inc. grew its holdings in Linde by 12.9% during the 2nd quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 175 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $91,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 74.2% during the second quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 54 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. First Command Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Linde by 41.4% during the third quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 82 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Towercrest Capital Management increased its holdings in Linde by 2.8% in the third quarter. Towercrest Capital Management now owns 918 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $436,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Capital Management Investments LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 55.6% in the third quarter. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC now owns 70 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 86,833 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 4th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,442,546.93. The trade was a 63.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 stock was 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. The trade was a 29.69% 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 corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Berenberg Bank reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Linde from $542.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Monday, October 5th. DZ Bank reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank cut their price target on shares of Linde from $580.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $553.05.

Linde Trading Up 0.9%

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $526.55 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $488.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $495.50. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $387.78 and a fifty-two week high of $548.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $241.73 billion, a PE ratio of 34.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.67.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.2%. Linde’s dividend 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.