Linde plc (NYSE:LIN) Shares Bought by AMF Tjanstepension AB

AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its holdings in Linde plc (NYSE:LIN) by 69.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 443,162 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 182,089 shares during the period. Linde comprises 1.6% of AMF Tjanstepension AB’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. AMF Tjanstepension AB’s holdings in Linde were worth $168,880,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Resources Investment Advisors LLC. grew its stake in shares of Linde by 191.1% in the 1st quarter. Resources Investment Advisors LLC. now owns 5,027 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,787,000 after purchasing an additional 3,300 shares during the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 17.5% in the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 2,480 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $881,000 after buying an additional 369 shares during the period. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 3.5% in the first quarter. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC now owns 62,128 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $22,083,000 after buying an additional 2,129 shares during the period. Harding Loevner LP boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 193.7% in the first quarter. Harding Loevner LP now owns 981,005 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $348,688,000 after buying an additional 646,949 shares during the period. Finally, Ronald Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.3% in the first quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,380 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,103,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.98% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Linde stock opened at $386.52 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $188.60 billion, a PE ratio of 33.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $381.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $367.54. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $262.47 and a 52-week high of $393.67.

Linde (NYSE:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The basic materials company reported $3.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $8.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.70 billion. Linde had a net margin of 17.20% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.10 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Linde plc will post 14.03 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 5th will be given a dividend of $1.275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 1st. This represents a $5.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 44.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Linde from $400.00 to $420.00 in a report on Friday, July 28th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Linde from $382.00 to $410.00 in a report on Monday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $420.00 to $444.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 28th. Argus lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $440.00 to $463.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 1st. Finally, HSBC lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $416.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $404.41.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 39,695 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $391.62, for a total value of $15,545,355.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 369,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $144,747,059.82. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 39,695 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $391.62, for a total value of $15,545,355.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 369,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $144,747,059.82. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 12,484 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $386.53, for a total value of $4,825,440.52. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 27,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,498,541.33. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

About Linde

Linde plc operates as an industrial gas company in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia 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.