MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC Lowers Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,173 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 85 shares during the quarter. Linde accounts for approximately 1.8% of MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,990,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Linde in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,226,000. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,051 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,345,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC lifted its position in Linde by 20.7% in the first quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 1,395 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $648,000 after buying an additional 239 shares during the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 28,887 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $13,413,000 after acquiring an additional 1,641 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 4,495 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,087,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ LIN traded up $0.91 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $457.15. The stock had a trading volume of 189,169 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,827,290. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $470.47 and its 200 day moving average is $452.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $217.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.64, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $396.07 and a twelve month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.63 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LIN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Mizuho boosted their price target on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America upped their target price on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Six investment 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 stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $490.75.

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.