Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC Cuts Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC lessened its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 31.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 220 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 103 shares during the quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $96,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,676,156 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,744,033,000 after buying an additional 405,952 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Linde by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,796,924 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,434,406,000 after acquiring an additional 141,322 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its stake in Linde by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 3,959,993 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,624,462,000 after purchasing an additional 138,585 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in Linde by 2.4% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,893,414 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,343,470,000 after purchasing an additional 66,880 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 1.2% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,953,147 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $906,730,000 after purchasing an additional 23,155 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Linde Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $467.03 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $224.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.95. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $456.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $449.13. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $361.02 and a 52-week high of $479.79.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business 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 company earned $3.57 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on LIN shares. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup boosted their price objective 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 dropped their target price 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. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $477.00 price target on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, 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. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $484.18.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.