Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Decreases Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP decreased its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,873,782 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 76,979 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Linde were worth $822,250,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Retirement Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the first quarter worth $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Linde by 44.4% in the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,136,996. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on LIN. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Barclays raised their price objective on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America lifted 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. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $484.18.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $468.81 on Monday. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $361.02 and a 1 year high of $479.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $223.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s 50-day moving average is $454.53 and its 200 day moving average is $448.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

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 the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.57 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect 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 issued 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.13%.

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.