Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Position Increased by Itau Unibanco Holding S.A.

Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 462 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 231 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A.’s holdings in Linde were worth $220,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the second quarter worth $28,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the second quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Linde during the third quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the company’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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This represents a 36.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LIN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $490.75.

Linde Trading Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ LIN opened at $458.12 on Wednesday. Linde plc has a one year low of $396.07 and a one year high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market cap of $218.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.93. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $466.42 and its 200-day moving average is $454.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The company’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.63 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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

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.