Chicago Capital LLC Increases Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Chicago Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 29,345 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 1,310 shares during the quarter. Chicago Capital LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $13,993,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Retirement Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in Linde during the second quarter valued at $33,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Linde by 49.0% in the first quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 73 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kozak & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Linde in the third quarter worth $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on LIN. Citigroup increased their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. 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. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $477.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $484.18.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,136,996. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $486.45 on Friday. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $361.02 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $469.63 and a 200 day moving average of $450.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $233.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.30 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.57 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were paid a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.14%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.13%.

Linde Profile

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.