Public Sector Pension Investment Board Increases Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,959 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 2,700 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in Linde were worth $9,995,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of LIN. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the second quarter worth approximately $33,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the third quarter worth approximately $34,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on LIN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho lifted their target price on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $490.75.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $457.12 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $396.07 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $467.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $454.04. The company has a market capitalization of $217.66 billion, a PE ratio of 34.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.63 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. Linde’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,136,996. The trade was a 36.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.