Haverford Trust Co Raises Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Haverford Trust Co raised its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,196 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 376 shares during the quarter. Haverford Trust Co’s holdings in Linde were worth $4,862,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth $34,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total value of $4,639,068.75. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,136,996. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on LIN shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $490.75.

Linde Stock Up 0.1 %

LIN stock opened at $456.24 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $217.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $396.07 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $470.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $452.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.63 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

About Linde

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.