Stonegate Investment Group LLC Sells 120 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Stonegate Investment Group LLC reduced its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 34,058 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 120 shares during the quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $16,241,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its position in Linde by 7.8% in the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 9,412 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,488,000 after purchasing an additional 678 shares during the period. Kozak & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. Howard Capital Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at about $252,000. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 54,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,215,000 after purchasing an additional 2,312 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Heirloom Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Heirloom Wealth Management now owns 26,340 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,560,000 after purchasing an additional 599 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Bank of America boosted 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. upped their price objective on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” 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. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $484.18.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the company’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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,136,996. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock traded down $1.51 during trading on Friday, reaching $484.55. 375,683 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,828,256. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $231.37 billion, a PE ratio of 36.99, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $361.02 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $468.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $450.50.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.57 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were issued a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 42.31%.

About Linde

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.