Ballentine Partners LLC Has $2.79 Million Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Ballentine Partners LLC decreased its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,664 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 45 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $2,790,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 1.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,973,175 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,217,197,000 after purchasing an additional 154,792 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Linde by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,449,218 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,513,551,000 after buying an additional 15,187 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 372.8% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,288,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,567,958,000 after buying an additional 2,592,682 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Linde by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,015,882 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,438,154,000 after buying an additional 50,882 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its stake in shares of Linde by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,374,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,130,986,000 after buying an additional 56,775 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $495.75.

Linde Trading Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ LIN opened at $436.00 on Tuesday. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $396.07 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $436.85 and a 200-day moving average of $453.12. The company has a market cap of $207.61 billion, a PE ratio of 33.11, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.63 EPS. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were issued a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds purchased 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $441.34 per share, with a total value of $44,134.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $102,832.22. This trade represents a 75.19 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total value of $963,388.30. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 25,926 shares in the company, valued at $11,260,958.10. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.60% 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.