Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Acquired by Greystone Financial Group LLC

Greystone Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 43.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,988 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 602 shares during the quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $872,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth $3,066,825,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in Linde by 566.9% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,833,465 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $851,314,000 after purchasing an additional 1,558,538 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the second quarter worth about $420,720,000. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 91.6% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 968,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $449,648,000 after buying an additional 463,096 shares during the period. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter worth $210,480,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN traded down $8.67 during trading on Friday, reaching $456.85. 2,012,129 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,897,746. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $361.02 and a 52 week high of $479.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $451.18 and a 200 day moving average of $447.87. The stock has a market cap of $218.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.44, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on LIN. UBS Group lowered their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $477.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Bank of America lifted 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. Barclays raised their price target 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. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $484.18.

Linde 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.