Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Holdings Trimmed by Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund cut its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 14,233 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,272 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Linde were worth $6,787,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.4% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,449,218 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,513,551,000 after acquiring an additional 15,187 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $1,365,647,000 after purchasing an additional 218,746 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.4% during 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 buying an additional 56,775 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in 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 buying an additional 160,355 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in Linde by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,953,147 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $906,730,000 after acquiring an additional 23,155 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on LIN shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays increased their target price on shares of 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 increased their price objective 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 boosted their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $490.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 $8,136,996. This represents a 36.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $449.10 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $470.08 and a 200-day moving average of $452.64. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $396.07 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The company has a market capitalization of $213.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.10, a PEG ratio of 2.92 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 (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. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion during 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 revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.63 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given 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 1.24%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.