Linde PLC $LIN Shares Newly Acquired by Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 61,991 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,424,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,344,181 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,558,016,000 after buying an additional 719,052 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its holdings in Linde by 13.4% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 3,162,409 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,567,796,000 after acquiring an additional 373,012 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Linde by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,740,541 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,358,712,000 after acquiring an additional 64,078 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Linde by 28.6% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,624,728 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $805,475,000 after acquiring an additional 361,664 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its position in Linde by 6.6% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,370,361 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $679,370,000 after acquiring an additional 85,360 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Linde from $580.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Berenberg Bank restated a “buy” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Linde from $549.00 to $568.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $577.00 to $591.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $553.05.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, CFO Matthew White sold 86,833 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $521.21, for a total transaction of $45,258,227.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 50,733 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,442,546.93. This trade represents a 63.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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 firm’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 transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,487,629.58. This represents a 29.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $521.78 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $487.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $495.12. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $387.78 and a 52-week high of $548.20. The firm has a market cap of $239.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.67, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 3rd will be paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 42.52%.

Linde Company 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.