Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Bought by National Bank of Canada FI

National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 46.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 48,211 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,393 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Linde were worth $20,593,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,796,924 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,434,406,000 after buying an additional 141,322 shares during the period. Provence Wealth Management Group lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 655.7% in the fourth quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group now owns 597 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $245,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares during the period. Schwarz Dygos Wheeler Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $203,000. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC grew its position in Linde by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC now owns 5,278 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,168,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the period. Finally, Portfolio Design Labs LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,897,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN traded up $3.46 on Thursday, hitting $447.22. 655,610 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,987,018. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $436.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $437.60. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $361.02 and a twelve month high of $477.71. The firm has a market cap of $214.97 billion, a PE ratio of 34.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $8.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.38 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.26% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The company’s revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.42 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 4th were given a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 4th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on LIN. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 6th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. HSBC decreased their price objective on Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $464.25.

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.