Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Stake Boosted by Aptus Capital Advisors LLC

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 20.1% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 51,817 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,676 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $24,709,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in Linde by 4.2% during the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 20,203 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,381,000 after purchasing an additional 820 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in Linde in the first quarter valued at $1,226,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its stake in Linde by 3.1% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 537,793 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $249,708,000 after buying an additional 16,206 shares during the last quarter. Interchange Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 8.4% in the first quarter. Interchange Capital Partners LLC now owns 544 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $253,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Angeles Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 32.5% during the first quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,416 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,122,000 after purchasing an additional 593 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

Linde stock traded down $0.23 on Tuesday, hitting $456.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 348,089 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,829,368. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $471.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $452.49. The firm has a market cap of $217.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a one year low of $395.00 and a one year high of $487.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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 on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total value of $4,639,068.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,136,996. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on LIN. Bank of America lifted their target price on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho increased their price target on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $490.75.

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.