Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Raises Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 13.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 36,112 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,366 shares during the quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Linde were worth $15,846,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in Linde by 566.9% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,833,465 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $851,314,000 after purchasing an additional 1,558,538 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Linde in the 2nd quarter worth about $420,720,000. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 91.6% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 968,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $449,648,000 after buying an additional 463,096 shares in the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Linde in the 1st quarter valued at about $210,480,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Linde by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,676,156 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,744,033,000 after acquiring an additional 405,952 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America upped their target price on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays increased their price objective 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. UBS Group lowered their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $484.18.

Linde Stock Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $468.81 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $454.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $448.66. The company has a market cap of $223.86 billion, a PE ratio of 36.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $361.02 and a twelve month high of $479.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. Linde’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.57 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.13%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.