Eventide Asset Management LLC Acquires 5,420 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Eventide Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 40.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 18,808 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,420 shares during the quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $8,969,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Linde during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $43,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 133.3% in the second quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 98 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $490.75.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN opened at $460.99 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $219.50 billion, a PE ratio of 35.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.96. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $467.20 and a 200-day moving average of $454.23. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $396.07 and a 52-week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.63 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 42.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,136,996. The trade was a 36.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.60% 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.