New England Research & Management Inc. Cuts Stake in Linde plc (NYSE:LIN)

New England Research & Management Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Linde plc (NYSE:LIN) by 18.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,450 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 325 shares during the quarter. New England Research & Management Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $553,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the first quarter worth $25,000. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC increased its position in Linde by 51.9% during the 1st quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 82 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Manitou Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Linde during the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. FWL Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Tucker Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the 1st quarter worth approximately $37,000. Institutional investors own 80.98% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

NYSE LIN traded up $1.57 on Thursday, reaching $386.72. 143,487 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,825,870. The firm has a market cap of $188.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.85. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $381.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $367.54. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $262.47 and a fifty-two week high of $393.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.78.

Linde (NYSE:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The basic materials company reported $3.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $8.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.70 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 17.20%. Linde’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.10 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 14.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 5th will be given a dividend of $1.275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 1st. This represents a $5.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.32%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LIN. HSBC upped their price target on Linde from $416.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 7th. Citigroup assumed coverage on Linde in a report on Tuesday, June 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $430.00 price target for the company. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $382.00 to $410.00 in a report on Monday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $400.00 to $418.00 in a research report on Monday, July 31st. Finally, Argus increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $440.00 to $463.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $404.41.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 39,695 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $391.62, for a total transaction of $15,545,355.90. Following the sale, the director now owns 369,611 shares in the company, valued at $144,747,059.82. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Linde news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 39,695 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $391.62, for a total transaction of $15,545,355.90. Following the transaction, the director now owns 369,611 shares in the company, valued at $144,747,059.82. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 12,484 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $386.53, for a total value of $4,825,440.52. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 27,161 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,498,541.33. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Linde

Linde plc operates as an industrial gas company in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia 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.