Pitcairn Co. Sells 252 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Pitcairn Co. cut its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,051 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 252 shares during the period. Pitcairn Co.’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,932,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Linde by 0.4% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,449,218 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,513,551,000 after buying an additional 15,187 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in Linde by 7.6% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,112,160 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,365,647,000 after buying an additional 218,746 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Linde by 1.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,015,882 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,438,154,000 after purchasing an additional 50,882 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its holdings in Linde by 2.4% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,374,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,130,986,000 after purchasing an additional 56,775 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 8.7% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,993,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $874,908,000 after purchasing an additional 160,355 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America lifted 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. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $490.75.

Linde Trading Down 0.1 %

Linde stock opened at $454.78 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $468.54 and a 200-day moving average of $453.48. Linde plc has a one year low of $396.07 and a one year high of $487.49. 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 company has a market cap of $216.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.22%. Linde’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $8,136,996. This represents a 36.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.60% 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.