Pacer Advisors Inc. Cuts Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Pacer Advisors Inc. reduced its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 67,650 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 4,699 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $29,685,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Linde by 39.8% during the second quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,202 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,844,000 after purchasing an additional 1,196 shares during the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 11.9% in the 2nd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 437,302 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $191,892,000 after acquiring an additional 46,494 shares during the last quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management grew its position in Linde by 90.9% in the second quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 609 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $267,000 after acquiring an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Linde by 428.7% during the second quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. now owns 53,097 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $23,299,000 after acquiring an additional 43,055 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Callan Capital LLC raised its position in Linde by 7.6% during the second quarter. Callan Capital LLC now owns 1,084 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $476,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Linde Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $471.91 on Monday. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $361.02 and a twelve month high of $479.79. The firm has a market cap 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. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $458.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $449.20. 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 (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.57 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th were issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s payout ratio is 43.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on LIN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, 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. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $484.18.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 value 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Linde 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.