Congress Asset Management Co. Sells 165 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Congress Asset Management Co. lowered its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 39,197 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 165 shares during the quarter. Congress Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Linde were worth $18,691,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norden Group LLC bought a new position in Linde in the 1st quarter worth approximately $5,041,000. Kovack Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Linde by 23.6% during the first quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 612 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $284,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 37.1% during the first quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,073 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,355,000 after acquiring an additional 1,374 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its position in Linde by 147.9% in the first quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 3,129 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,453,000 after purchasing an additional 1,867 shares during the period. Finally, Diversify Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the 1st quarter worth about $901,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $456.15 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $473.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $451.73. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $376.70 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $217.81 billion, a PE ratio of 34.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.30 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.57 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given 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 1.22%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.31%.

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.