Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Cuts Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC trimmed its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 89,852 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,316 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $39,428,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. NBT Bank N A NY increased its stake in Linde by 1.9% in the second quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 9,393 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,122,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. IFG Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the second quarter valued at approximately $232,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Linde by 142.7% in the second quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,625 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,030,000 after purchasing an additional 2,719 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC increased its stake in Linde by 73.9% in the second quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 1,268 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $556,000 after purchasing an additional 539 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the second quarter worth approximately $3,996,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of LIN stock opened at $478.25 on Friday. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $361.02 and a fifty-two week high of $479.79. The stock has a market cap of $228.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $448.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $446.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.57 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be issued a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LIN has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America increased their price target on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $477.00 price target on shares of Linde in a report on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $484.18.

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.