Robeco Schweiz AG Sells 48 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Robeco Schweiz AG lessened its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 55,230 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 48 shares during the period. Robeco Schweiz AG’s holdings in Linde were worth $24,235,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LIN. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Linde by 0.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,676,156 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,744,033,000 after purchasing an additional 405,952 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Linde by 1.3% during the fourth 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 period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $3,066,825,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its stake in Linde by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 3,959,993 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,624,462,000 after purchasing an additional 138,585 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in Linde by 2.4% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,893,414 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,343,470,000 after purchasing an additional 66,880 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $467.34 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $223.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $453.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $448.49. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $361.02 and a fifty-two week high of $479.79.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.57 earnings per share. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,136,996. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $477.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $484.18.

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.