J. Stern & Co. LLP Has $2.14 Million Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

J. Stern & Co. LLP lowered its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 40.8% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 4,867 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,350 shares during the quarter. Linde comprises about 0.3% of J. Stern & Co. LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. J. Stern & Co. LLP’s holdings in Linde were worth $2,136,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Members Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Linde by 3.7% during the first quarter. Members Trust Co now owns 646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $300,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Linde by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,787 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $830,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Linde by 44.4% during the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 49.0% during the 1st quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 73 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Finally, CNB Bank grew its position in shares of Linde by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. CNB Bank now owns 847 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $393,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock opened at $471.91 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company’s 50-day moving average is $458.07 and its 200-day moving average is $449.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $226.84 billion, a PE ratio of 36.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $361.02 and a 1 year high of $479.79.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.30 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.57 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.18%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Linde Company 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.