DRW Securities LLC Grows Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

DRW Securities LLC grew its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1,222.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,364 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,807 shares during the quarter. DRW Securities LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $3,231,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 44.4% in the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

Linde stock opened at $471.91 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $226.84 billion, a PE ratio of 36.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $458.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $449.30. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $361.02 and a fifty-two week high of $479.79.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.57 EPS. Linde’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s payout ratio is 43.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup raised their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $477.00 price target on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, August 30th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $484.18.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.70% 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.