M Holdings Securities Inc. Acquires 1,599 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

M Holdings Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 1,599 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $826,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp raised its position in Linde by 3.7% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,344,181 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,558,016,000 after acquiring an additional 719,052 shares during the period. Amundi increased its stake in shares of Linde by 13.4% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 3,162,409 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,567,796,000 after purchasing an additional 373,012 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Linde by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,740,541 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,358,712,000 after purchasing an additional 64,078 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Linde by 28.6% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,624,728 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $805,475,000 after purchasing an additional 361,664 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,370,361 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $679,370,000 after purchasing an additional 85,360 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Up 0.3%

NASDAQ LIN opened at $521.78 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.72. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $387.78 and a 1 year high of $548.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $239.54 billion, a PE ratio of 34.67, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.67. The business’s 50-day moving average is $487.83 and its 200 day moving average is $495.12.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $4.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.52 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $9.40 billion during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.21 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 17.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company 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. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 42.52%.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, CFO Matthew White sold 86,833 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 50,733 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,442,546.93. This trade represents a 63.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 Linde stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,487,629.58. This trade represents a 29.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Berenberg Bank reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $574.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $535.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Argus dropped their price target on shares of Linde from $563.00 to $538.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 28th. One investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $553.05.

About Linde

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.