Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Sells 1,132 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lowered its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,980 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,132 shares during the quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Linde were worth $16,681,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Vident Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 40.7% during the 1st quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 8,075 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,750,000 after purchasing an additional 2,337 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its stake in shares of Linde by 4.4% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 54,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,215,000 after purchasing an additional 2,312 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings 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 during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 51,540 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $22,616,000 after buying an additional 1,564 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc grew its position in shares of Linde by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. M&G Plc now owns 185,903 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $81,611,000 after purchasing an additional 2,252 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho boosted 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. raised 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. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $490.75.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other 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 value of $4,639,068.75. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. The trade was a 36.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of LIN stock opened at $450.14 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $214.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $396.07 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $469.10 and its 200 day moving average is $453.12.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. The firm 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.63 EPS. Research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

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.