M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in  Linde plc (NYSE:LIN) by 3.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,236 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,554 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp's holdings in Linde were worth $12,196,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Farmers Trust Co. lifted its holdings in shares of  Linde by 16.3% in the third quarter. Farmers Trust Co. now owns 849 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $229,000 after buying an additional 119 shares in the last quarter.  Alphastar Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of  Linde by 5.9% in the third quarter. Alphastar Capital Management LLC now owns 2,018 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $544,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the last quarter.  Ballentine Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of  Linde by 26.2% in the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 3,804 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,025,000 after purchasing an additional 789 shares during the last quarter.  Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in  Linde by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 376,568 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $101,519,000 after acquiring an additional 13,232 shares in the last quarter.  Finally, Logan Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in  Linde by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Logan Capital Management Inc. now owns 20,666 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $5,942,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. 78.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Linde Stock Down 3.4 %

Shares of Linde stock opened at $330.93 on Thursday. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $262.47 and a 1-year high of $362.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The business's fifty day moving average price is $333.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $314.84. The company has a market capitalization of $162.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.11, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.84.

Linde (NYSE:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 7th. The basic materials company reported $3.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.25. Linde had a return on equity of 14.95% and a net margin of 12.43%. The company had revenue of $7.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.77 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year.  As a group, research analysts forecast that  Linde plc will post 13.37 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 14th will be paid a $1.275 dividend. This represents a $5.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 13th. This is an increase from Linde's previous quarterly dividend of $1.17. Linde's payout ratio is currently 56.73%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on LIN. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Linde from $375.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 8th. HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $375.00 to $380.00 in a report on Friday, February 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Linde from $340.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Linde from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 15th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Linde from $402.00 to $418.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. One equities research analyst  has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and fourteen have issued  a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde  has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $370.67.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 4,060 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $360.17, for a total value of $1,462,290.20. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 8,432 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,036,953.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own  0.25% of the company's stock.

About Linde

Linde Plc is a global industrial gases and engineering company. It designs and builds equipment that produces industrial gases and offers customers a wide range of gas production and processing services such as olefin plants, natural gas plants, air separation plants, hydrogen and synthesis gas plants and other types of plants.