James Investment Research Inc. Decreases Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

James Investment Research Inc. cut its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.3% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,434 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 140 shares during the quarter. James Investment Research Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $4,976,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Linde in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in Linde in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. lifted its stake in Linde by 133.3% in the 2nd quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 98 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bangor Savings Bank lifted its stake in Linde by 62.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 101 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde 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 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 trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LIN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group dropped their target price 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $490.75.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $457.31 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $472.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $451.82. The company has a market cap of $218.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 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. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $385.12 and a 52 week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.63 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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 (DPR) 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.