Headinvest LLC Sells 278 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Headinvest LLC lowered its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,403 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 278 shares during the period. Linde makes up 1.4% of Headinvest LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Headinvest LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $7,822,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter worth $100,435,000. Zacks Investment Management raised its holdings in Linde by 19.0% during the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 577 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $275,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. DF Dent & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 10.5% in the third quarter. DF Dent & Co. Inc. now owns 2,783 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,327,000 after buying an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 21.9% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 59,184 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $27,647,000 after buying an additional 10,643 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 163.1% during the third quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,480 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,090,000 after acquiring an additional 4,017 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Linde stock opened at $449.44 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $214.01 billion, a PE ratio of 34.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.93. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $396.07 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $464.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $455.18.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.63 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

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 shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total value of $4,639,068.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. This trade represents a 36.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. This trade represents a 16.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $490.75.

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.