Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by Fluent Financial LLC

Fluent Financial LLC reduced its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,280 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 57 shares during the period. Fluent Financial LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $610,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Linde by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,796,924 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,434,406,000 after acquiring an additional 141,322 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in Linde by 46.9% during the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 48,211 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,593,000 after buying an additional 15,393 shares during the period. Vontobel Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter worth about $26,603,000. Prudential PLC boosted its stake in Linde by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 27,136 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,145,000 after buying an additional 2,409 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 40.7% in the 1st quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 8,075 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,750,000 after buying an additional 2,337 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on LIN. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays upped their price target on 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 reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $477.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $484.18.

Linde Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded down $1.57 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $468.18. 2,131,023 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,860,692. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $464.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $449.97. The firm has a market cap of $225.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.32, a PEG ratio of 3.00 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 52-week low of $361.02 and a 52-week high of $483.36.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were given a dividend of $1.39 per share. 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 payout ratio is 43.13%.

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.