Convergence Financial LLC Sells 514 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Convergence Financial LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 24.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,632 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 514 shares during the period. Convergence Financial LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $778,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LIN. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in Linde by 46.9% during the 1st 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 position in Linde by 40.7% during the 1st quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 8,075 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,750,000 after purchasing an additional 2,337 shares in the last quarter. Choate Investment Advisors raised its position in Linde by 23.6% during the 1st quarter. Choate Investment Advisors now owns 18,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $8,366,000 after purchasing an additional 3,437 shares in the last quarter. Norden Group LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the 1st quarter valued at $5,041,000. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in Linde by 28.7% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 20,071 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,319,000 after purchasing an additional 4,479 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on LIN. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $477.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group cut their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $484.18.

Linde Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of LIN stock opened at $473.76 on Friday. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $366.12 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $472.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $451.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $226.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.57 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were given a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.17%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,136,996. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.