Essex Financial Services Inc. Raises Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Essex Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 9.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,196 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 283 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,403,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 30.1% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,340 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $550,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 88,680 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,422,000 after acquiring an additional 3,550 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 824 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $339,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 33.2% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 706 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $290,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 58,661 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $24,093,000 after acquiring an additional 1,489 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on LIN. HSBC decreased their target price on Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $484.18.

Linde Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of Linde stock traded up $5.52 during trading on Friday, reaching $478.25. 1,385,635 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,311,057. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $448.28 and its 200 day moving average is $446.55. The firm has a market cap of $228.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $361.02 and a 1 year high of $479.79.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.13%.

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.