Associated Banc Corp Purchases New Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Associated Banc Corp acquired a new position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 424 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Linde during the third quarter worth approximately $34,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new position in Linde during the 2nd quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at $43,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on LIN shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $490.75.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock opened at $456.60 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $217.41 billion, a PE ratio of 34.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $467.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $454.00. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $396.07 and a 12 month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.63 EPS. Analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other 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 value of $4,639,068.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,136,996. The trade was a 36.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.