Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lowered its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 61,715 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,498 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $27,081,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Linde by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,779 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $781,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the period. Summit Trail Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 7.0% during the 2nd quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 6,695 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,938,000 after acquiring an additional 437 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in shares of Linde by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 120,352 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $52,812,000 after acquiring an additional 1,186 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 39.8% during the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,202 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,844,000 after acquiring an additional 1,196 shares during the period. Finally, King Luther Capital Management Corp lifted its position in shares of Linde by 11.9% during the 2nd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 437,302 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $191,892,000 after acquiring an additional 46,494 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the business’s 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on LIN. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $477.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $484.18.

Linde Stock Up 0.6 %

LIN stock opened at $471.91 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $226.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.61, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.95. Linde plc has a one year low of $361.02 and a one year high of $479.79. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $458.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $449.30.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its 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. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.30 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.57 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.18%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio 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.