BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Sells 24,187 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lessened its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 14.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 144,958 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 24,187 shares during the quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Linde were worth $69,125,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Linde by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,449,218 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,513,551,000 after buying an additional 15,187 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 372.8% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,288,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,567,958,000 after purchasing an additional 2,592,682 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in Linde by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,112,160 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,365,647,000 after purchasing an additional 218,746 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Linde by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,015,882 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,438,154,000 after purchasing an additional 50,882 shares during the period. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc grew 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 valued at $1,130,986,000 after buying an additional 56,775 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $460.99 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $219.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $467.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $454.23. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $396.07 and a 52 week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced 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 company had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. Linde’s revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.63 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $490.75.

Linde 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.