Independent Advisor Alliance Lowers Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Independent Advisor Alliance reduced its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 17,562 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 341 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in Linde were worth $8,375,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.4% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,449,218 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,513,551,000 after purchasing an additional 15,187 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased 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 purchasing an additional 218,746 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Linde by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,015,882 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,438,154,000 after buying an additional 50,882 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its position in Linde by 2.4% in the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,374,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,130,986,000 after buying an additional 56,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in Linde by 8.7% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,993,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $874,908,000 after acquiring an additional 160,355 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $454.78 on Monday. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $396.07 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $468.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $453.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $216.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.22%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Bank of America upped their target price on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $490.75.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total value of $4,639,068.75. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This represents a 36.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.