Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Sells 3,420 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd decreased its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 60,223 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,420 shares during the quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in Linde were worth $28,718,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Linde by 0.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 15,187 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $1,365,647,000 after acquiring an additional 218,746 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 50,882 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 56,775 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 160,355 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This represents a 36.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $455.69 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $468.16 and its 200 day moving average is $453.84. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $396.07 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays raised their price target on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $490.75.

Linde Company 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.