Granite Harbor Advisors Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Granite Harbor Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 19.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 599 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Granite Harbor Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $286,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 566.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,558,538 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Linde in the second quarter valued at about $420,720,000. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in Linde by 91.6% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 968,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $449,648,000 after buying an additional 463,096 shares in the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Linde during the 1st quarter worth approximately $210,480,000. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its position in shares of Linde by 108.7% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 784,477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $374,086,000 after acquiring an additional 408,659 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of Linde stock traded up $1.71 during trading on Monday, hitting $475.75. The stock had a trading volume of 131,927 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,839,781. The business has a fifty day moving average of $465.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $449.80. The firm has a market cap of $228.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.78, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $361.02 and a fifty-two week high of $483.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.17%. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 43.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the topic of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $477.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. 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.com, Linde has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $484.18.

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.