Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Stake Lowered by LSV Asset Management

LSV Asset Management cut its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 25.0% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 400 shares during the quarter. LSV Asset Management’s holdings in Linde were worth $527,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 49.0% during the first quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 73 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 44.4% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on LIN shares. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays increased their price objective on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $477.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, August 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $484.18.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,136,996. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN opened at $467.34 on Friday. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $361.02 and a 1-year high of $479.79. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $453.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $448.49. The company has a market capitalization of $224.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.57 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.19%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

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.