Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Position Reduced by Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lowered its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.1% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 65,076 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 745 shares during the quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $28,558,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Members Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Members Trust Co now owns 646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $300,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Linde by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,787 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $830,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Linde by 44.4% in the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Linde by 49.0% in the 1st quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 73 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CNB Bank boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. CNB Bank now owns 847 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $393,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays raised 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. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $477.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, August 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $484.18.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,136,996. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $468.81 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $454.53 and its 200-day moving average is $448.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $223.86 billion, a PE ratio of 36.37, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $361.02 and a 1-year high of $479.79.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.30 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.57 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 43.13%.

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.