Magnetar Financial LLC Sells 5,232 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Magnetar Financial LLC reduced its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 61.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,295 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 5,232 shares during the quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,530,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 405,952 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Linde by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,796,924 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,434,406,000 after buying an additional 141,322 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,066,825,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its holdings in Linde by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 3,959,993 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,624,462,000 after buying an additional 138,585 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in Linde by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,893,414 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,343,470,000 after buying an additional 66,880 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 6th. HSBC decreased their price target on shares of Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 6th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $464.25.

Linde Stock Up 1.9 %

NASDAQ:LIN traded up $8.36 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $451.39. 1,307,402 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,472,236. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $437.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $438.15. Linde plc has a one year low of $361.02 and a one year high of $477.71. The company has a market cap of $216.97 billion, a PE ratio of 35.02, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $8.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.38 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 19.26%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.42 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th were paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 4th. Linde’s payout ratio is 43.13%.

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.