8,029 Shares in Linde PLC $LIN Bought by CENTRAL TRUST Co

CENTRAL TRUST Co acquired a new stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 8,029 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,811,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 74.2% during the 2nd quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 54 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 96.6% in the 1st quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 57 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Polaris Financial Partners bought a new position in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.91, for a total transaction of $4,851,808.50. Following the sale, the vice president owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,487,629.58. This trade represents a 29.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Matthew J. White sold 86,833 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $521.21, for a total value of $45,258,227.93. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 50,733 shares in the company, valued at $26,442,546.93. The trade was a 63.12% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Linde Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $522.49 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $239.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.67. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $489.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $495.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.86. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $387.78 and a 52-week high of $548.20.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $4.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.52 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $9.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.16 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.34% and a return on equity of 20.32%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.21 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 17.89 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 3rd will be issued a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 3rd. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Linde’s payout ratio is 42.52%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on LIN shares. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Linde from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Argus dropped their price objective on Linde from $563.00 to $538.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 28th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Linde from $535.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on Linde from $542.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $553.05.

Linde Profile

Linde plc is a global industrial gases and engineering company. It produces and supplies atmospheric gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and argon, as well as hydrogen, helium and specialty gases. The company also designs and builds equipment and facilities used to produce and process gases. Linde serves customers across industries including healthcare, manufacturing, chemicals, food and beverage, electronics and energy. Its operations span the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia-Pacific.