AGF Management Ltd. Increases Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

AGF Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 13.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 195,993 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 23,399 shares during the period. AGF Management Ltd.’s holdings in Linde were worth $86,004,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. MGO One Seven LLC grew its stake in Linde by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 3,307 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,451,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the second quarter worth about $218,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Linde by 18.5% during the second quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,190 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,105,000 after buying an additional 2,529 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Linde by 9.0% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 99,594 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $43,702,000 after buying an additional 8,260 shares during the period. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Linde by 8.7% in the second quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 522,102 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $229,104,000 after acquiring an additional 41,625 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $463.72 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $221.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $361.02 and a twelve month high of $479.79. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $452.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $448.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.30 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.57 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.20%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup increased 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. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $477.00 price target on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, August 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $484.18.

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.