Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Bought by King Luther Capital Management Corp

King Luther Capital Management Corp boosted its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 495,244 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 57,942 shares during the period. Linde makes up approximately 1.0% of King Luther Capital Management Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. King Luther Capital Management Corp owned about 0.10% of Linde worth $236,162,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LIN. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Linde during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $43,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LIN has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Mizuho increased their target price on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday. 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, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $490.75.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $450.14 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market cap of $214.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.18, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $396.07 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $469.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $453.12.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.63 earnings per share. Linde’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,136,996. The trade was a 36.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.