Security National Bank of SO Dak Has $3.27 Million Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Security National Bank of SO Dak increased its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.6% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,442 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the period. Linde accounts for 2.0% of Security National Bank of SO Dak’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Security National Bank of SO Dak’s holdings in Linde were worth $3,266,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV bought a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth $532,000. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC now owns 3,244 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,332,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the period. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $441,000. Roundview Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 20.7% in the 4th quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 1,240 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $509,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the period. Finally, Avestar Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 2,320 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $953,000 after buying an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,136,996. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on LIN. Barclays upped their target price on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $477.00 target price on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, August 30th. Citigroup raised their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $484.18.

Linde Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of LIN stock opened at $481.68 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $460.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $449.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $361.02 and a 12 month high of $482.11. The stock has a market cap of $231.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.57 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s payout ratio is 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.