Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. Makes New Investment in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 231 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in Linde by 566.9% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,833,465 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $851,314,000 after buying an additional 1,558,538 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Linde in the second quarter worth about $420,720,000. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 91.6% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 968,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $449,648,000 after purchasing an additional 463,096 shares during the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Linde in the 1st quarter valued at about $210,480,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Linde by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,676,156 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,744,033,000 after buying an additional 405,952 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $471.91 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.95. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $361.02 and a 52 week high of $479.79. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $458.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $449.20. The company has a market capitalization of $226.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 approximately $8,136,996. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America increased their price target on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $477.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Six investment 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 an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $484.18.

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.