Heritage Wealth Management Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Heritage Wealth Management Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 916 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 165 shares during the quarter. Heritage Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $437,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Linde by 0.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,676,156 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,744,033,000 after acquiring an additional 405,952 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Linde by 0.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 15,187 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 7.6% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,112,160 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,365,647,000 after buying an additional 218,746 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.4% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,374,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,130,986,000 after buying an additional 56,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 8.7% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,993,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $874,908,000 after acquiring an additional 160,355 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN stock traded down $1.31 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $464.16. 22,491 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,829,028. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $390.38 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $221.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.34, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $472.12 and its 200 day moving average is $452.12.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.63 EPS. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.47 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,136,996. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the topic of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays increased their price objective on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $490.75.

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.