Nicolet Advisory Services LLC Trims Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Nicolet Advisory Services LLC decreased its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 649 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 37 shares during the quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $305,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Linde during the 2nd quarter worth about $420,720,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 47,830.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 936,076 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $446,377,000 after buying an additional 934,123 shares in the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the first quarter valued at approximately $210,480,000. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its position in shares of Linde by 108.7% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 784,477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $374,086,000 after buying an additional 408,659 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 131.6% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 621,444 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $296,342,000 after buying an additional 353,136 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $454.78 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $216.55 billion, a PE ratio of 34.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $468.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $453.66. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $396.07 and a 52 week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.63 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total value of $4,639,068.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. The trade was a 36.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on LIN. Mizuho boosted their price target on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $490.75.

Linde 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.