Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Stake Lessened by Impax Asset Management Group plc

Impax Asset Management Group plc lowered its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 13.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,317,564 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 365,459 shares during the period. Linde comprises about 4.1% of Impax Asset Management Group plc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Impax Asset Management Group plc owned 0.48% of Linde worth $1,015,870,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Retirement Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the second quarter worth about $28,000. First Pacific Financial bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Linde by 44.4% in the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $477.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $484.18.

Linde Trading Down 0.3 %

LIN traded down $1.47 during trading on Friday, reaching $464.05. The company had a trading volume of 90,131 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,886,572. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $450.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $447.69. The stock has a market cap of $221.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.11, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $361.02 and a 52 week high of $479.79.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.30 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The business’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.57 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be issued a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.20%. Linde’s payout ratio is 43.13%.

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.