Wallington Asset Management LLC Purchases 2,106 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Wallington Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 70,805 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,106 shares during the quarter. Linde makes up approximately 4.7% of Wallington Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Wallington Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $33,764,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Guidance Capital Inc. raised its stake in shares of Linde by 2.2% in the third quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. now owns 1,686 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $820,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. TFG Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 0.7% in the third quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 3,639 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,735,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust raised its stake in shares of Linde by 4.0% in the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 10,007 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,772,000 after acquiring an additional 386 shares in the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI raised its stake in shares of Linde by 175.4% in the third quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 6,240 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,976,000 after acquiring an additional 3,974 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 13.1% in the third quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 718 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $342,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was 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 $8,136,996. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays increased their target price on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $477.00 target price on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $484.18.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $477.43 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $471.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $450.99. The firm has a market cap of $227.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.33, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $362.33 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.57 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th were given a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.31%.

Linde Company 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.