Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Bought by Gabelli Funds LLC

Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5.5% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,750 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $2,523,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LIN. Retirement Group LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 49.0% in the first quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 73 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Linde by 44.4% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Price Performance

LIN opened at $477.01 on Thursday. 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $459.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $449.40. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $361.02 and a fifty-two week high of $481.60. The firm has a market cap of $227.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.57 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend 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 43.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on LIN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. 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. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $484.18.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $8,136,996. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate 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.