Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by First Horizon Advisors Inc.

First Horizon Advisors Inc. cut its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 24.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,022 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 331 shares during the quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $487,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the second quarter valued at $33,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth about $43,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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 shares were 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. This trade represents a 36.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LIN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of 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. boosted their target price on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $490.75.

Linde Stock Up 0.8 %

Linde stock opened at $453.69 on Friday. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $396.07 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $216.03 billion, a PE ratio of 34.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $468.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $453.12.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 business earned $3.63 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.23%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.22%.

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.