Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 9.0% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 40,388 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,321 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $17,695,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Retirement Group LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Linde by 44.4% during the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Down 0.7 %

LIN opened at $471.66 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $226.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The business’s 50 day moving average is $456.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $449.00. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $361.02 and a 52 week high of $479.79.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.30 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. Linde’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.57 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,136,996. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $477.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, August 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Barclays upped 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. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $484.18.

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.