Noesis Capital Mangement Corp Takes $14.12 Million Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Noesis Capital Mangement Corp bought a new position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 29,600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,115,000. Linde accounts for 2.8% of Noesis Capital Mangement Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in Linde during the second quarter valued at $28,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Linde in the 3rd quarter worth about $43,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This trade represents a 36.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on LIN. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays increased their target price on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted 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. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $490.75.

Linde Stock Up 0.1 %

LIN stock opened at $457.12 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $467.66 and its 200 day moving average is $454.02. The stock has a market cap of $217.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $396.07 and a 1-year high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.63 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

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.