Fisher Asset Management LLC Purchases 288 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 28.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,318 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $541,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Johnson Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Linde by 44.4% during the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $575,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Claro Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 2,316 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $951,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Holderness Investments Co. increased its holdings in Linde by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Holderness Investments Co. now owns 1,863 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $765,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Seven Mile Advisory increased its holdings in Linde by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 640 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $238,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock opened at $442.75 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $212.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $358.37 and a 1 year high of $477.71. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $436.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $432.97.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.68 by $0.07. Linde had a net margin of 19.26% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The business had revenue of $8.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.42 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 4th were paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 4th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 6th. HSBC dropped their price objective on shares of Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Citigroup cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $468.83.

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.