Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. Sells 338 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. cut its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 338 shares during the period. Linde accounts for 3.5% of Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $14,637,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Group LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in Linde during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. First Pacific Financial purchased a new stake in Linde in the first quarter valued at $30,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 44.4% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded up $5.52 on Friday, reaching $478.25. 1,385,635 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,311,057. The company has a 50 day moving average of $448.28 and a 200 day moving average of $446.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $361.02 and a fifty-two week high of $479.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $228.36 billion, a PE ratio of 37.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.57 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.16%. Linde’s payout ratio is 43.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. 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. HSBC decreased their target price on shares of Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a 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 stock presently has a consensus 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.