Linde PLC $LIN Shares Purchased by Kestra Advisory Services LLC

Kestra Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 16.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 28,263 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 4,031 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $13,415,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Atwood & Palmer Inc. raised its stake in shares of Linde by 12.9% in the 2nd quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 175 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $91,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in Linde by 0.5% during the first quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 4,159 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,062,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 74.2% during the second quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 54 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Towercrest Capital Management grew its holdings in Linde by 2.8% during the third quarter. Towercrest Capital Management now owns 918 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $436,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Capital Management Investments LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 55.6% during the third quarter. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC now owns 70 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $515.25 on Monday. Linde PLC has a one year low of $387.78 and a one year high of $548.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $236.54 billion, a PE ratio of 34.24, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $486.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $494.34.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Matthew White sold 86,833 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 50,733 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,442,546.93. The trade was a 63.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through 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 company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.91, for a total transaction of $4,851,808.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,487,629.58. This represents a 29.69% decrease in their position. 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. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Linde from $560.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Linde from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $535.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. DZ Bank reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Evercore increased their target price on shares of Linde from $515.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $553.05.

Linde 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.

The company was formed in 2018 through the merger of Germany’s Linde AG and U.S.-based Praxair, bringing together businesses with long histories in industrial gases and engineering.