Hancock Whitney Corp Sells 272 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Hancock Whitney Corp reduced its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 11.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,026 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 272 shares during the period. Hancock Whitney Corp’s holdings in Linde were worth $941,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LIN. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Linde by 0.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,676,156 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,744,033,000 after acquiring an additional 405,952 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position 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 worth $4,434,406,000 after purchasing an additional 141,322 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,066,825,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 3,959,993 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,624,462,000 after purchasing an additional 138,585 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in Linde by 2.4% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,893,414 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,343,470,000 after buying an additional 66,880 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN traded down $5.86 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $447.48. 585,675 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,973,535. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $438.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $439.19. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $361.02 and a 12-month high of $477.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $215.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $8.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.38 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 19.26%. The company’s revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.42 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s payout ratio is 43.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on LIN shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group cut their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. HSBC decreased their price target on shares of Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $477.25.

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.