AMF Tjanstepension AB Raises Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 108.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 784,477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 408,659 shares during the period. Linde comprises about 2.7% of AMF Tjanstepension AB’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. AMF Tjanstepension AB’s holdings in Linde were worth $374,086,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Retirement Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the first quarter worth about $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 49.0% during the first quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 73 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $475.84 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $463.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $449.81. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $361.02 and a fifty-two week high of $483.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $227.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.57 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were paid a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on LIN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Barclays lifted their target price on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $477.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $484.18.

About Linde

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.