Covenant Partners LLC Buys 148 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Covenant Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,326 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the period. Covenant Partners LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,109,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Retirement Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 49.0% in the 1st quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 73 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kozak & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Linde during the third quarter valued at about $34,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ LIN traded down $0.70 on Friday, hitting $473.76. The stock had a trading volume of 2,458,462 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,824,661. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $472.24 and a 200-day moving average of $451.24. The company has a market capitalization of $226.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.95. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $366.12 and a 52-week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.57 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.52 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were issued a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 42.31%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on LIN shares. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $477.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Bank of America upped their price target on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $484.18.

Linde Company Profile

Linde plc operates as an industrial gas company in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South Pacific. It offers atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and rare gases; and process gases, such as carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, specialty gases, and acetylene.