Investment Management Corp of Ontario Has $14.09 Million Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Investment Management Corp of Ontario raised its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 175.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 29,547 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,809 shares during the quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario’s holdings in Linde were worth $14,090,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted 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. Bank of America lifted their price target on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Seven investment 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 Price Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $459.69 on Tuesday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $218.89 billion, a PE ratio of 34.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.93. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $467.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $454.55. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $396.07 and a 12 month high of $487.49.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling 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 stock was sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,136,996. This represents a 36.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.