Point Windward Advisors Inc. Buys 1,500 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Point Windward Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 1,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $712,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Sanders Morris Harris LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $847,000. Carderock Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $7,498,000. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,875,000. First Financial Bank Trust Division acquired a new position in Linde during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $4,034,000. Finally, Annex Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,187,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on LIN. Evercore increased their price objective 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. Berenberg Bank restated a “buy” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Linde from $535.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Linde from $560.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $553.05.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 86,833 shares of Linde 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 50,733 shares in the company, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 business’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 completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,487,629.58. This represents a 29.69% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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 stock opened at $522.49 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $489.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $495.84. Linde PLC has a 12 month low of $387.78 and a 12 month high of $548.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $239.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.72, a PEG ratio of 3.07 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.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $4.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.21 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 17.89 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 3rd will be issued 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 of this dividend is Thursday, December 3rd. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 42.52%.

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.