Banque Pictet & Cie SA Decreases Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Banque Pictet & Cie SA decreased its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 10.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 107,637 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 12,157 shares during the quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA’s holdings in Linde were worth $47,232,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Linde by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,796,924 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,434,406,000 after buying an additional 141,322 shares in the last quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group raised its holdings in Linde by 655.7% in the 4th quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group now owns 597 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $245,000 after acquiring an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. Schwarz Dygos Wheeler Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $203,000. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC now owns 5,278 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,168,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Portfolio Design Labs LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $1,897,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Up 0.9 %

Linde stock traded up $4.03 during trading on Friday, reaching $465.74. 1,307,962 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,919,406. The company’s 50-day moving average is $445.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $444.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.95. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $361.02 and a 52-week high of $477.71. The firm has a market cap of $222.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.13, a PEG ratio of 2.86 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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.30 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.57 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be given a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Linde from $475.00 to $477.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. HSBC dropped their price objective on Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 6th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.