423 Shares in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Acquired by Boltwood Capital Management

Boltwood Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 423 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC now owns 3,244 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,332,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the period. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 9.9% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 22,657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,305,000 after purchasing an additional 2,047 shares in the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 7,330 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,011,000 after purchasing an additional 665 shares in the last quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,181 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $485,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Inc. AR boosted its position in shares of Linde by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 11,146 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,578,000 after buying an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on LIN shares. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group reduced their target price 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. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $477.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $484.18.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,136,996. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Stock Performance

Linde stock opened at $469.75 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $224.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $463.83 and a 200-day moving average of $449.95. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $361.02 and a 52 week high of $483.36.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were given a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.13%.

Linde 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.