Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP Invests $59.78 Million in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP acquired a new stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 125,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,777,000. Linde makes up about 4.0% of Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $43,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 133.3% in the 2nd quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 98 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America raised their price target on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $490.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde 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 value of $4,639,068.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This represents a 36.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Linde Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Linde stock traded up $1.60 on Tuesday, hitting $459.90. The stock had a trading volume of 150,364 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,842,229. 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 twelve month low of $396.07 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $467.20 and a 200 day moving average of $454.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $218.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.90, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.63 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.21%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio 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.