Profund Advisors LLC Reduces Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Profund Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 46,647 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,398 shares during the quarter. Linde comprises approximately 0.8% of Profund Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Profund Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $20,469,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Linde by 0.9% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $4,434,406,000 after acquiring an additional 141,322 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 3,959,993 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,624,462,000 after acquiring an additional 138,585 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in shares of Linde by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,112,160 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,365,647,000 after acquiring an additional 218,746 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,953,147 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $906,730,000 after acquiring an additional 23,155 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Price Performance

LIN opened at $471.91 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $226.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.61, a PEG ratio of 2.97 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. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $458.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $449.30. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $361.02 and a 12-month high of $479.79.

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 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 analyst estimates of $8.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.57 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 1.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,136,996. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $477.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Barclays lifted their price target 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. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $484.18.

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.