iA Global Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 310,350 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $144,511,000. Linde comprises approximately 2.5% of iA Global Asset Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. iA Global Asset Management Inc. owned approximately 0.07% of Linde as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its position 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 valued at $88,505,000 after buying an additional 1,320 shares during the period. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 4.5% in the 4th 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 raised its holdings in Linde by 300.3% in the 4th 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 during the period. Taurus Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Linde by 0.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Linde by 770.8% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 36,052 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $15,094,000 after purchasing an additional 31,912 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.
Linde Price Performance
NASDAQ:LIN traded down $2.05 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $469.43. The stock had a trading volume of 1,077,817 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,562,322. The stock has a market capitalization of $220.12 billion, a PE ratio of 33.39, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.92. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $467.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $458.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.93.
Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. Linde had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.85 earnings per share. Linde's quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Linde Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.67%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada started 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $519.63.
Read Our Latest Analysis on Linde
Insider Transactions at Linde
In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the vice president owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
About Linde
(
Free Report)
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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