Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Boosts Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 147.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 32,698 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 19,459 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Linde were worth $15,592,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 566.9% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,833,465 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $851,314,000 after purchasing an additional 1,558,538 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $420,720,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Linde by 47,830.2% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 936,076 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $446,377,000 after buying an additional 934,123 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in Linde by 91.6% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 968,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $449,648,000 after buying an additional 463,096 shares during the period. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Linde in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $210,480,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $473.76 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $472.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $451.19. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $366.12 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.05, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th were paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.17%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.31%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $477.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, August 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. Barclays raised 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. Bank of America raised their price target 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. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $484.18.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde 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 value of $4,639,068.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,136,996. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Linde

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.