Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Buys 2,004 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 7.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,641 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,004 shares during the quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Linde were worth $13,007,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Members Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Linde by 3.7% during the first quarter. Members Trust Co now owns 646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $300,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Linde by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,787 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $830,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Linde by 44.4% during the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 49.0% in the first quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 73 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CNB Bank lifted its position in shares of Linde by 2.9% in the first quarter. CNB Bank now owns 847 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $393,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $469.17 on Friday. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $361.02 and a 52 week high of $479.79. The company has a market capitalization of $225.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.40, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $457.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $449.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.95.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were paid a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on LIN. UBS Group lowered 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. Citigroup raised their price objective on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Barclays upped their target price on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $477.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $484.18.

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.