CWS Financial Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

CWS Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 926 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 82 shares during the period. CWS Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $442,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its holdings in Linde by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 54,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,215,000 after purchasing an additional 2,312 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 51,540 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $22,616,000 after purchasing an additional 1,564 shares in the last quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 196,036 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $93,457,000 after acquiring an additional 1,811 shares during the period. M&G Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. M&G Plc now owns 185,903 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $81,611,000 after acquiring an additional 2,252 shares during the period. Finally, M&G PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 190,615 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $90,923,000 after acquiring an additional 4,712 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $490.75.

Linde Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $457.12 on Friday. 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. The company has a 50 day moving average of $467.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $454.04. The company has a market capitalization of $217.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.63 earnings per share. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This represents a 36.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.