Schear Investment Advisers LLC Raises Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Schear Investment Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 7.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,113 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the period. Linde comprises approximately 1.2% of Schear Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Schear Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,961,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LIN. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in Linde by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,449,218 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,513,551,000 after acquiring an additional 15,187 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its stake in Linde by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,112,160 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,365,647,000 after acquiring an additional 218,746 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its stake in Linde by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,374,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,130,986,000 after acquiring an additional 56,775 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in Linde by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,993,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $874,908,000 after acquiring an additional 160,355 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in Linde by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,953,147 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $906,730,000 after acquiring an additional 23,155 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were 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 $8,136,996. The trade was a 36.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $449.10 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $213.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.10, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $470.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $452.72. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $396.07 and a twelve month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its 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 business had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.63 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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 issued a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $490.75.

Linde Company 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.