Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by Kentucky Retirement Systems

Kentucky Retirement Systems trimmed its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 7.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,489 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,736 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Linde were worth $15,970,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 46.9% during the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 48,211 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,593,000 after purchasing an additional 15,393 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC boosted its position in Linde by 40.7% in the 1st quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 8,075 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,750,000 after buying an additional 2,337 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its stake in Linde by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 54,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,215,000 after purchasing an additional 2,312 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 28.7% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 20,071 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,319,000 after buying an additional 4,479 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 51,540 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $22,616,000 after acquiring an additional 1,564 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,136,996. This represents a 36.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on LIN. Barclays boosted their price target on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Mizuho increased their price target on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $490.75.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $449.10 on Friday. Linde plc has a one year low of $396.07 and a one year high of $487.49. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $470.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $452.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The company has a market capitalization of $213.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.63 EPS. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

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.