Seven Eight Capital LP Makes New Investment in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,185 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $550,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter worth $3,066,825,000. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 104.2% in the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 18,679 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,672,000 after acquiring an additional 468,415 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 91.6% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 968,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $449,648,000 after acquiring an additional 463,096 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 33,201.7% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 411,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $169,189,000 after purchasing an additional 410,705 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,676,156 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,744,033,000 after purchasing an additional 405,952 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Down 0.8 %

Linde stock traded down $3.65 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $443.76. The stock had a trading volume of 1,601,525 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,995,923. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $213.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.93. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $361.02 and a 12-month high of $477.71. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $436.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $437.55.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.68 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $8.10 billion during 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 revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.42 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th were issued a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 4th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on LIN. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 6th. HSBC cut their target price on shares of Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $464.25.

About Linde

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.