Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP Buys Shares of 125,356 Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP bought a new stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 125,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,777,000. Linde comprises 4.0% of Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Linde by 16.9% in the third quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,367 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $652,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Linde by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,706 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,290,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the period. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 1.3% during the third quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,831 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $873,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its position in Linde by 5.7% during the second quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 445 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $195,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,136,996. This trade represents a 36.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock traded up $1.60 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $459.90. The company had a trading volume of 150,364 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,842,229. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $467.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $454.55. The company has a market capitalization of $218.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.93. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $396.07 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.63 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on LIN. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted 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. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $490.75.

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.