Creative Planning Has $28.75 Million Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Creative Planning lifted its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 16.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 60,292 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 8,659 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning’s holdings in Linde were worth $28,751,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Retirement Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in Linde during the second quarter worth $28,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the second quarter worth $33,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the second quarter valued at about $42,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $486.45 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $469.63 and a 200-day moving average of $450.50. Linde plc has a one year low of $361.02 and a one year high of $487.49. The company has a market cap of $233.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.57 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.54 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.14%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays raised their target price on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup boosted 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. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $477.00 target price on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, August 30th. UBS Group decreased their price target 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $484.18.

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.