Synergy Asset Management LLC Raises Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Synergy Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 23.4% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 10,998 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 2,084 shares during the period. Synergy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $4,826,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Linde by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,676,156 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,744,033,000 after purchasing an additional 405,952 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Linde by 1.3% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,066,825,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 3,959,993 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,624,462,000 after buying an additional 138,585 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,893,414 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,343,470,000 after acquiring an additional 66,880 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded down $1.47 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $464.05. 90,131 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,886,572. The company has a market cap of $221.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $450.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $447.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Linde plc has a one year low of $361.02 and a one year high of $479.79.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be paid a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.20%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on LIN shares. Barclays upped their price objective on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, 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 research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $484.18.

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.