Trust Investment Advisors Raises Stake in Linde plc (NYSE:LIN)

Trust Investment Advisors lifted its position in shares of Linde plc (NYSE:LIN) by 5.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,071 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the quarter. Trust Investment Advisors’ holdings in Linde were worth $789,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LIN. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in Linde by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 34,287,378 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $12,187,106,000 after acquiring an additional 2,768,390 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Linde by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,984,243 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,103,185,000 after acquiring an additional 372,780 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Linde by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,066,483 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,644,351,000 after acquiring an additional 303,502 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Linde by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,335,306 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,313,068,000 after acquiring an additional 102,291 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Linde by 33.7% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,056,224 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,218,946,000 after acquiring an additional 2,282,620 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.98% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 12,484 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $386.53, for a total transaction of $4,825,440.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 27,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,498,541.33. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 1,245 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $387.63, for a total transaction of $482,599.35. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,158,796.87. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 12,484 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $386.53, for a total value of $4,825,440.52. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 27,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,498,541.33. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on LIN. Mizuho boosted their price target on Linde from $382.00 to $410.00 in a research report on Monday, July 31st. Citigroup boosted their price target on Linde from $448.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 4th. Barclays upped their target price on Linde from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 28th. UBS Group cut their target price on Linde from $450.00 to $445.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 12th. Finally, HSBC upped their target price on Linde from $416.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $424.50.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:LIN traded down $0.51 on Friday, hitting $407.88. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,542,480 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,586,705. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $302.17 and a 12 month high of $411.08. The company has a market capitalization of $197.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.88. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $381.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $376.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.83.

Linde (NYSE:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 26th. The basic materials company reported $3.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.57 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 16.59% and a net margin of 18.44%. The company had revenue of $8.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 14.11 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 18th. Investors of record on Monday, December 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.275 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 1st. This represents a $5.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.11%.

Linde Profile

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.