Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Purchased by Hancock Whitney Corp

Hancock Whitney Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 7.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,180 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 154 shares during the period. Hancock Whitney Corp’s holdings in Linde were worth $957,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 44.4% in the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA boosted its stake in Linde by 334.3% during the fourth quarter. Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA now owns 4,365 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,793,000 after buying an additional 3,360 shares in the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 14,528 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,967,000 after purchasing an additional 1,538 shares in the last quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. increased its position in shares of Linde by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 52,373 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $21,426,000 after acquiring an additional 3,088 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC now owns 5,278 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,168,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup lifted their target price 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $477.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, August 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $484.18.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $471.91 on Monday. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $361.02 and a 12-month high of $479.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $458.07 and a 200-day moving average of $449.20.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.30 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.57 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 sale, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,136,996. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.