Assetmark Inc. Buys 5,314 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 8.7% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 66,117 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,314 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $31,021,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in LIN. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Linde by 5.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,600,297 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,470,284,000 after buying an additional 453,108 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 18.6% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,542,991 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,511,751,000 after buying an additional 1,182,157 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Linde during the 1st quarter valued at $2,097,793,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Linde by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,859,539 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,797,156,000 after purchasing an additional 40,931 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 1.9% in the second quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 3,401,590 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,577,624,000 after purchasing an additional 61,829 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock opened at $429.91 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $201.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.58, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.93. The business has a 50-day moving average of $466.66 and a 200-day moving average of $464.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $408.65 and a 1 year high of $486.38.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.03 by $0.06. Linde had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.85 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 3rd will be given a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.38, for a total value of $23,815,274.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 480,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. The trade was a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on LIN shares. Citigroup raised their target price on Linde from $530.00 to $535.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $507.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $520.00.

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.