Principal Securities Inc. Grows Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Principal Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 14.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,993 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,027 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $3,811,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in Linde by 566.9% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,833,465 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $851,314,000 after acquiring an additional 1,558,538 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Linde during the 2nd quarter valued at $420,720,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Linde by 47,830.2% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 936,076 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $446,377,000 after acquiring an additional 934,123 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in Linde by 91.6% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 968,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $449,648,000 after acquiring an additional 463,096 shares in the last quarter. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Linde during the 1st quarter valued at $210,480,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $457.31 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $218.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The business has a fifty day moving average of $472.87 and a 200 day moving average of $451.82. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $385.12 and a 1 year high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The company’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.63 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.22%. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 42.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group dropped their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays raised their price objective on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $490.75.

Linde 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.