Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators

Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lowered its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 8.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 683 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 59 shares during the period. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators’ holdings in Linde were worth $280,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Linde by 30.1% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,340 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $550,000 after buying an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 45.5% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $657,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 1,359 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $558,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 104.2% during the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 18,679 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,672,000 after purchasing an additional 468,415 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Everpar Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter worth $221,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $477.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, August 30th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $484.18.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded down $4.55 on Thursday, hitting $467.58. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 95,820 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,886,629. The company has a market capitalization of $223.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.95. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $361.02 and a 12 month high of $479.79. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $450.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $447.57.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.57 EPS. Linde’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be issued a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.19%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio 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.