Reliant Investment Management LLC Decreases Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Reliant Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,299 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 222 shares during the period. Linde accounts for 3.9% of Reliant Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Reliant Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $8,249,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Retirement Group LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Linde by 49.0% during the 1st quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 73 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Bank of America increased their price target on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective 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 issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $484.18.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN opened at $469.44 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $225.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $464.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $449.71. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $361.02 and a fifty-two week high of $483.36. 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 (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted 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. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.57 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders 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 currently 43.13%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.