Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC lessened its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,471 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 153 shares during the quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $5,470,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 566.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,558,538 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at $420,720,000. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in Linde by 91.6% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 968,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $449,648,000 after acquiring an additional 463,096 shares in the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Linde during the 1st quarter valued at $210,480,000. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its stake in Linde by 108.7% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 784,477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $374,086,000 after acquiring an additional 408,659 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $463.24 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $464.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $449.73. The firm has a market cap of $221.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 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 12 month low of $361.02 and a 12 month high of $483.36.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results 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. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.57 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect 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 issued a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group decreased their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $477.00 price target on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note 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. According to MarketBeat, Linde currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $484.18.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.