Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Stock Position Lowered by Community Trust & Investment Co.

Community Trust & Investment Co. lessened its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 54,866 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 166 shares during the period. Linde makes up 1.7% of Community Trust & Investment Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. Community Trust & Investment Co.’s holdings in Linde were worth $26,163,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 566.9% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,833,465 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $851,314,000 after purchasing an additional 1,558,538 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the second quarter valued at $420,720,000. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 91.6% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 968,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $449,648,000 after buying an additional 463,096 shares in the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter valued at $210,480,000. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 108.7% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 784,477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $374,086,000 after buying an additional 408,659 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $477.00 price target on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, August 30th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on 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 Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $484.18.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Linde Trading Down 0.3 %

Linde stock opened at $481.95 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $471.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $450.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $230.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $361.02 and a 12 month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.30 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.57 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.52 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were issued a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.15%. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 42.31%.

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.