Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Has $3.76 Million Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,091 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $3,757,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Linde by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,796,924 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,434,406,000 after purchasing an additional 141,322 shares during the last quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group grew its position in Linde by 655.7% during the 4th quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group now owns 597 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $245,000 after acquiring an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. Schwarz Dygos Wheeler Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $203,000. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC now owns 5,278 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,168,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the period. Finally, Portfolio Design Labs LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $1,897,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on LIN shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 6th. UBS Group cut their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, HSBC reduced their target price on Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $464.25.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of Linde stock traded up $1.51 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $447.61. The stock had a trading volume of 555,346 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,995,129. The firm has a market cap of $215.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $361.02 and a 12 month high of $477.71. The business’s 50-day moving average is $436.31 and its 200 day moving average is $437.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.68 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $8.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.38 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.26% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.42 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 4th were paid a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 4th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.13%.

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.