Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Acquires 5,200 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 215.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,619 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,200 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB’s holdings in Linde were worth $3,633,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Linde in the third quarter valued at approximately $590,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 44,908 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,423,000 after purchasing an additional 2,999 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 2,831 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,350,000 after buying an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Wealthquest Corp acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth $459,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth $1,023,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total value of $2,020,301.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 22,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. The trade was a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds bought 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $441.34 per share, with a total value of $44,134.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $102,832.22. The trade was a 75.19 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on LIN. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $490.75.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $438.50 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $462.19 and a 200-day moving average of $455.24. The company has a market cap of $208.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $396.07 and a 52 week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.63 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.22%.

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.