Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by Field & Main Bank

Field & Main Bank decreased its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,718 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 132 shares during the period. Field & Main Bank’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,773,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in shares of Linde by 46.9% in the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 48,211 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,593,000 after acquiring an additional 15,393 shares in the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 40.7% in the 1st quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 8,075 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,750,000 after purchasing an additional 2,337 shares during the last quarter. Choate Investment Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 23.6% in the 1st quarter. Choate Investment Advisors now owns 18,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,366,000 after purchasing an additional 3,437 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its stake in Linde by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 54,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,215,000 after acquiring an additional 2,312 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in Linde by 28.7% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 20,071 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,319,000 after acquiring an additional 4,479 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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 on 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $459.48 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $218.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.89, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $471.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $452.30. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $390.38 and a 52-week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.63 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. Mizuho lifted their target price on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays lifted their target price on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $490.75.

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.