CKW Financial Group Purchases New Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

CKW Financial Group acquired a new position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,213 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $576,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Linde during the 3rd quarter worth $34,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter worth $43,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the second quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. lifted its position in shares of Linde by 133.3% during the second quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 98 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America upped their price objective 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 increased their price target on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $490.75.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN traded down $2.09 on Tuesday, reaching $453.60. 200,840 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,840,189. The firm has a market cap of $215.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $468.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $453.84. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $396.07 and a 52 week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.63 EPS. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.23%. Linde’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,136,996. The trade was a 36.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.