CENTRAL TRUST Co Sells 682 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

CENTRAL TRUST Co cut its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 682 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Linde were worth $4,884,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Linde by 0.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,676,156 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,744,033,000 after acquiring an additional 405,952 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,449,218 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,513,551,000 after purchasing an additional 15,187 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in shares of Linde by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,112,160 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,365,647,000 after purchasing an additional 218,746 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,993,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $874,908,000 after purchasing an additional 160,355 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,953,147 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $906,730,000 after buying an additional 23,155 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of LIN opened at $474.46 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $471.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $450.99. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $362.33 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The company has a market capitalization of $226.55 billion, a PE ratio of 36.11, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.94. 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 (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.57 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.52 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other 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 directly owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,136,996. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on LIN shares. Barclays lifted their target price on 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 upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup raised their target price 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. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $484.18.

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.