Davis R M Inc. Reduces Position in Linde plc (NYSE:LIN)

Davis R M Inc. reduced its holdings in Linde plc (NYSE:LIN) by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 175,884 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,370 shares during the period. Linde makes up 1.6% of Davis R M Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Davis R M Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $67,026,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Profund Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 4.6% in the second quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 13,722 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,229,000 after purchasing an additional 607 shares in the last quarter. Payden & Rygel acquired a new position in Linde during the second quarter worth $6,669,000. Moran Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC now owns 80,589 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,711,000 after buying an additional 1,608 shares in the last quarter. Trust Investment Advisors increased its stake in shares of Linde by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Trust Investment Advisors now owns 2,071 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $789,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 246.2% during the 2nd quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 5,885 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,243,000 after acquiring an additional 4,185 shares during the period. 80.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on LIN shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $420.00 to $444.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 28th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Linde from $418.00 to $421.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 30th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Linde from $382.00 to $410.00 in a report on Monday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $420.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, August 1st. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Linde from $448.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $424.50.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $407.88 on Monday. The stock 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 company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The business has a 50-day moving average of $381.69 and a 200 day moving average of $376.78. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $302.17 and a 12 month high of $411.08.

Linde (NYSE:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 26th. The basic materials company reported $3.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.57 by $0.06. Linde had a net margin of 18.44% and a return on equity of 16.59%. The business had revenue of $8.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.53 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.10 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 14.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 12,484 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 27,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,498,541.33. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 1,245 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $387.63, for a total value of $482,599.35. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,158,796.87. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 12,484 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on 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 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. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.