EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 30.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,134 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 727 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,421,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 566.9% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,833,465 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $851,314,000 after buying an additional 1,558,538 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Linde during the 2nd quarter valued at $420,720,000. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in Linde by 91.6% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 968,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $449,648,000 after purchasing an additional 463,096 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the first quarter valued at $210,480,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Linde by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,676,156 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,744,033,000 after buying an additional 405,952 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $471.91 on Monday. 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 $361.02 and a 52 week high of $479.79. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $458.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $449.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $226.84 billion, a PE ratio of 36.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.30 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The business’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.57 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.18%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde 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 sale, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,136,996. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.