Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Purchased by Federated Hermes Inc.

Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 7.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 71,549 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,805 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $31,396,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Linde by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,061 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $466,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the period. TradeLink Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at $307,000. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 40.1% during the 2nd quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 8,817 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,869,000 after purchasing an additional 2,525 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its position in shares of Linde by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 855,247 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $375,461,000 after purchasing an additional 10,941 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its position in Linde by 1.1% in the second quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 21,555 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,459,000 after buying an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $468.81 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $454.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $448.68. The company has a market cap of $223.86 billion, a PE ratio of 36.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a one year low of $361.02 and a one year high of $479.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.95.

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. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.30 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.57 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 $8,136,996. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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 lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America upped their price target on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $484.18.

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.