Associated Banc Corp Invests $202,000 in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Associated Banc Corp bought a new stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 424 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Linde during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Linde in the third quarter worth approximately $43,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new position in Linde in the second quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. grew its stake in Linde by 133.3% in the second quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 98 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total value of $4,639,068.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,136,996. This trade represents a 36.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $456.60 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $217.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.96. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $396.07 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The company’s 50-day moving average is $467.86 and its 200 day moving average is $454.00.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.63 EPS. Linde’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on LIN. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. 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 report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $490.75.

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.