Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. reduced its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 311,122 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 7,654 shares during the quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. owned 0.06% of Linde worth $136,523,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $851,314,000 after purchasing an additional 1,558,538 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Linde during the second quarter valued at about $420,720,000. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 463,096 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 1st quarter valued at about $210,480,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Linde by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,676,156 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,744,033,000 after acquiring an additional 405,952 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total value of $4,639,068.75. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,136,996. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on LIN shares. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $477.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, August 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $484.18.

Linde Trading Up 0.6 %

LIN opened at $471.91 on Friday. 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 has a market cap of $226.84 billion, a PE ratio of 36.61, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a 50 day moving average of $458.07 and a 200-day moving average of $449.30.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $8.30 billion for 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.57 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. 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 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.