Whittier Trust Co. Raises Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Whittier Trust Co. boosted its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 112,928 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,324 shares during the quarter. Linde accounts for about 0.7% of Whittier Trust Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Linde were worth $53,849,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 566.9% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,833,465 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $851,314,000 after purchasing an additional 1,558,538 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Linde in the second quarter valued at approximately $420,720,000. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 91.6% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 968,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $449,648,000 after acquiring an additional 463,096 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the first quarter valued at approximately $210,480,000. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its stake in shares of Linde by 108.7% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 784,477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $374,086,000 after acquiring an additional 408,659 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Trading Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ:LIN traded down $2.73 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $483.72. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 540,521 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,826,385. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $361.02 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $469.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $450.50. 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 stock has a market cap of $232.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.57 EPS. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on LIN. Bank of America increased their price objective on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $477.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $484.18.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.