Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning Has $1.53 Million Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning lessened its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 15.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,300 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 596 shares during the quarter. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,532,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $3,066,825,000. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 104.2% during the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 18,679 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,672,000 after buying an additional 468,415 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 33,201.7% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 411,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $169,189,000 after buying an additional 410,705 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $171,607,000. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in Linde by 37.2% during the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,282,518 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $526,743,000 after acquiring an additional 347,531 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on LIN. HSBC reduced their target price on shares of Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 6th. Citigroup cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $468.83.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $430.77 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $435.35 and a 200-day moving average of $434.22. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $358.37 and a 12 month high of $477.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $207.06 billion, a PE ratio of 33.37, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $8.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.38 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 19.26%. The company’s revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.42 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th were paid a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 4th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

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.