Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by D.A. Davidson & CO.

D.A. Davidson & CO. trimmed its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 25,832 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 43 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Linde were worth $12,318,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Linde by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,449,218 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,513,551,000 after buying an additional 15,187 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in Linde by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,112,160 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,365,647,000 after buying an additional 218,746 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Linde by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,015,882 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,438,154,000 after buying an additional 50,882 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,374,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,130,986,000 after purchasing an additional 56,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,993,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $874,908,000 after purchasing an additional 160,355 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of several research reports. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Mizuho boosted their target price on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America boosted their target price on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $490.75.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN opened at $456.60 on Wednesday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $467.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $454.00. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $396.07 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $217.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.67, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total value of $4,639,068.75. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. This represents a 36.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.