LPL Financial LLC Sells 964 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

LPL Financial LLC trimmed its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 217,491 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 964 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $103,712,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in Linde during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Linde during the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in Linde in the second quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Linde in the third quarter valued at $43,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on LIN shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $490.75.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $454.78 on Friday. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $396.07 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $468.54 and its 200 day moving average is $453.48. The stock has a market cap of $216.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.53, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The business’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.63 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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 issued a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. The trade was a 36.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

About Linde

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.