Heritage Investors Management Corp Lowers Holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Heritage Investors Management Corp trimmed its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 2.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 25,252 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 604 shares during the period. Heritage Investors Management Corp's holdings in Linde were worth $11,758,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its stake in Linde by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 211,395 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $88,505,000 after purchasing an additional 1,320 shares in the last quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 7,788 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,261,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 300.3% during the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 26,150 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $10,948,000 after purchasing an additional 19,618 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its stake in Linde by 23.0% during the fourth quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 22,235 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $9,287,000 after purchasing an additional 4,162 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Taurus Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC now owns 55,009 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $23,031,000 after acquiring an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total value of $908,138.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total value of $3,314,065.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup raised Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. UBS Group increased their target price on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Argus raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $518.80.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $465.01 on Friday. The stock's 50 day moving average is $464.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $454.32. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $408.65 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $218.89 billion, a PE ratio of 33.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.96.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.75 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

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.

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