Sky Investment Group LLC Has $12.88 Million Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Sky Investment Group LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,016 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 193 shares during the period. Linde comprises 2.3% of Sky Investment Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Sky Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $12,883,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Linde by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,676,156 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,744,033,000 after buying an additional 405,952 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in Linde by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,449,218 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,513,551,000 after acquiring an additional 15,187 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in Linde by 7.6% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,112,160 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,365,647,000 after purchasing an additional 218,746 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 8.7% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,993,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $874,908,000 after purchasing an additional 160,355 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 1.2% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,953,147 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $906,730,000 after purchasing an additional 23,155 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $477.00 price target on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $484.18.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN stock traded down $4.98 on Tuesday, reaching $478.38. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 203,763 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,821,005. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $470.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $450.68. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $361.02 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The company has a market capitalization of $228.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 period last year, the company posted $3.57 EPS. Analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 1.16%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.31%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.