Northwest Bancshares Inc. Has $714,000 Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Northwest Bancshares Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,498 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Northwest Bancshares Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $714,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 46.9% during the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 48,211 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,593,000 after purchasing an additional 15,393 shares in the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 40.7% during the first quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 8,075 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,750,000 after acquiring an additional 2,337 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 4.4% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 54,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,215,000 after purchasing an additional 2,312 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 28.7% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 20,071 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,319,000 after purchasing an additional 4,479 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 3.1% in the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 51,540 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $22,616,000 after purchasing an additional 1,564 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays lifted their price objective on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $490.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total value of $4,639,068.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. This trade represents a 36.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $444.06 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $211.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $469.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $453.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $396.07 and a 1-year high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.63 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. Linde’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

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.