Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Purchased by Versant Capital Management Inc

Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 23.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 527 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Linde were worth $251,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Linde by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,796,924 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,434,406,000 after acquiring an additional 141,322 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in Linde by 46.9% in the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 48,211 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,593,000 after buying an additional 15,393 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $26,603,000. Vident Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 40.7% during the 1st quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 8,075 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,750,000 after buying an additional 2,337 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gotham Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 26.4% during the 4th quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 25,952 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,659,000 after acquiring an additional 5,417 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,136,996. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group cut their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $477.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $484.18.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $463.24 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $361.02 and a fifty-two week high of $483.36. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $464.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $449.73. The stock has a market cap of $221.20 billion, a PE ratio of 35.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

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.