Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI decreased its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,980 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,132 shares during the quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Linde were worth $16,681,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new position in Linde during the first quarter valued at $550,000. Vident Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 40.7% during the 1st quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 8,075 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,750,000 after buying an additional 2,337 shares during the period. CreativeOne Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the first quarter valued at about $1,334,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Linde by 132.7% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,898 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,060,000 after buying an additional 6,215 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in Linde by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,893,414 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,343,470,000 after purchasing an additional 66,880 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $450.14 on Thursday. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $396.07 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $214.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $469.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $453.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.63 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,136,996. The trade was a 36.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on LIN. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $490.75.

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.