Jackson Square Capital LLC Has $5.49 Million Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Jackson Square Capital LLC cut its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 11,506 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 313 shares during the period. Linde comprises approximately 1.4% of Jackson Square Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Jackson Square Capital LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $5,487,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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 valued at $20,744,033,000 after purchasing an additional 405,952 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in Linde by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,449,218 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,513,551,000 after buying an additional 15,187 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in Linde by 7.6% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,112,160 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,365,647,000 after acquiring an additional 218,746 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its stake in Linde by 2.4% in the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,374,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,130,986,000 after acquiring an additional 56,775 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 8.7% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,993,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $874,908,000 after acquiring an additional 160,355 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN opened at $462.63 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $220.29 billion, a PE ratio of 35.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.96. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $385.12 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $472.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $452.12.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.63 EPS. Linde’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.47 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on LIN shares. Bank of America increased their target price on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup increased their price objective on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $490.75.

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.