Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. trimmed its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 65,076 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 745 shares during the period. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $28,558,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Group LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Linde by 44.4% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the second quarter worth approximately $33,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,136,996. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Linde Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $468.81 on Monday. Linde plc has a one year low of $361.02 and a one year high of $479.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market cap of $223.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $454.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $448.66.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.30 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.57 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be issued a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays increased their target price on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $477.00 target price on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, August 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $484.18.

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.