Sentry Investment Management LLC Cuts Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Sentry Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 42.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,340 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,005 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $639,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FSM Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at $243,000. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its holdings in Linde by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,374,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,130,986,000 after purchasing an additional 56,775 shares during the period. First National Bank of Mount Dora Trust Investment Services raised its position in Linde by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter. First National Bank of Mount Dora Trust Investment Services now owns 14,217 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,780,000 after purchasing an additional 1,283 shares in the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc raised its position in Linde by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 2,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,122,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TKG Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the third quarter worth about $1,110,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Barclays lifted their target price on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup upped their target price on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $490.75.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $458.32 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $218.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 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 plc has a 1-year low of $385.12 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $472.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $451.98.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.63 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.49 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.21%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

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.