Mediolanum International Funds Ltd Trims Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Mediolanum International Funds Ltd decreased its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 61,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,192 shares during the quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd’s holdings in Linde were worth $29,233,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC raised its position in Linde by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 5,020 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,394,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its position in Linde by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 6,709 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,199,000 after buying an additional 579 shares during the last quarter. Freedom Day Solutions LLC raised its position in Linde by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Freedom Day Solutions LLC now owns 5,357 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,554,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated raised its position in Linde by 247.8% during the 3rd quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 1,965 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $940,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the 3rd quarter worth $1,032,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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 company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 $8,136,996. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ LIN traded up $3.78 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $478.24. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 185,248 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,813,680. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $366.12 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $471.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $450.99. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $228.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.57 earnings per share. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.52 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th were issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 42.31%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on LIN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $477.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.