Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Holdings Lifted by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 7.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,112,160 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 218,746 shares during the period. Linde accounts for about 1.3% of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned 0.65% of Linde worth $1,365,647,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Group LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Linde by 44.4% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the second quarter worth approximately $33,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total value of $4,639,068.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on LIN. Bank of America lifted their price target on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $484.18.

Linde Stock Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $469.17 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $457.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $449.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $225.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.40, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.94. 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 plc has a 1-year low of $361.02 and a 1-year high of $479.79.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.30 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.57 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were paid a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

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.