Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Position Reduced by Heritage Investors Management Corp

Heritage Investors Management Corp lowered its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,234 shares during the quarter. Heritage Investors Management Corp’s holdings in Linde were worth $12,347,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norden Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the first quarter valued at $315,000. Choreo LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 6.6% during the first quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 1,111 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $516,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. lifted its stake in Linde by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 3,050 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,416,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its stake in Linde by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 2,765 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,284,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TFB Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the 1st quarter worth about $302,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN traded up $0.60 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $458.92. 67,873 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,825,217. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $472.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $451.98. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $385.12 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $218.52 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 current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.63 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.49 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a $1.39 dividend. 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 is currently 42.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on LIN shares. 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 note on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup increased 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. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Barclays upped 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. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $490.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the firm’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 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. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.