Diversify Advisory Services LLC Lowers Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Diversify Advisory Services LLC lessened its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 11.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,110 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 143 shares during the quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $535,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,676,156 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,744,033,000 after purchasing an additional 405,952 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,449,218 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,513,551,000 after purchasing an additional 15,187 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,112,160 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,365,647,000 after purchasing an additional 218,746 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake 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 period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in Linde by 1.2% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,953,147 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $906,730,000 after buying an additional 23,155 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,136,996. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Stock Down 0.3 %

LIN stock opened at $473.40 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $376.70 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $226.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $473.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $451.70.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.57 earnings per share. Linde’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 42.31%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $477.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, August 30th. 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 note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $484.18.

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.