Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) is Reliant Investment Management LLC’s 3rd Largest Position

Reliant Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 17,400 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 189 shares during the period. Linde accounts for about 3.8% of Reliant Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Reliant Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $8,079,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LIN. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 141,322 shares in the last quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group increased its position in shares of Linde by 655.7% in the fourth quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group now owns 597 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $245,000 after acquiring an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. Schwarz Dygos Wheeler Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $203,000. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.0% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Portfolio Design Labs LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter worth $1,897,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded down $1.41 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $438.81. 2,470,164 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,763,077. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $358.37 and a twelve month high of $477.71. The firm has a market cap of $210.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.04, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.95. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $435.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $433.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $8.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.38 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 19.26%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.42 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.51 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th were given a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 4th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on LIN shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. UBS Group cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. HSBC lowered their price target on shares of Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 6th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $468.83.

Linde 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.