American Century Companies Inc. Has $233.43 Million Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

American Century Companies Inc. lessened its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.0% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 531,965 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 16,299 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $233,432,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased its holdings in Linde by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 8,264 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,626,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. increased its holdings in Linde by 133.3% in the 2nd quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 98 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA increased its holdings in Linde by 22.1% in the 2nd quarter. Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA now owns 1,252 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $558,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 552.6% in the second quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 124 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Shields & Co. LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 27.8% in the second quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC now owns 2,845 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,248,000 after buying an additional 618 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total value of $4,639,068.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ LIN opened at $467.34 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $453.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $448.49. Linde plc has a one year low of $361.02 and a one year high of $479.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $224.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.30 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.57 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company 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 yield of 1.19%. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on LIN shares. Citigroup increased their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $477.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Bank of America increased their price target on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Barclays increased their price target on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.