Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by State Street Corp

State Street Corp reduced its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,253,825 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 433,436 shares during the period. State Street Corp’s holdings in Linde were worth $9,181,379,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the second quarter valued at $28,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the second quarter valued at $33,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the third quarter valued at $34,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the second quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the third quarter valued at $43,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the company’s 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 owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,136,996. This represents a 36.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $459.45 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $466.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $454.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $218.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.93. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $396.07 and a twelve month high of $487.49.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued 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 1.21%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the topic of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report 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.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.