Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp lowered its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 26.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,194 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,962 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Linde were worth $5,344,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Linde by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,676,156 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,744,033,000 after purchasing an additional 405,952 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.4% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,449,218 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,513,551,000 after acquiring an additional 15,187 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 7.6% in the second 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 acquiring an additional 218,746 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 8.7% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,993,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $874,908,000 after acquiring an additional 160,355 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,953,147 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $906,730,000 after acquiring an additional 23,155 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $465.47 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $221.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $472.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $452.12. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $389.14 and a 12 month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.63 earnings per share. Linde’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America raised their price target on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $490.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total value of $4,639,068.75. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.