Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC Cuts Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 32.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,035 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $494,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Group LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the second quarter worth approximately $33,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the third quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the second quarter worth approximately $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total value of $4,639,068.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock traded down $0.86 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $455.29. 820,683 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,827,511. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.95. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $473.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $451.73. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $385.12 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The company has a market cap of $217.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.78, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.63 EPS. Linde’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.31%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. UBS Group reduced their target price 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned 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 $486.91.

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.