Stephens Inc. AR Has $5.48 Million Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Stephens Inc. AR reduced its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,493 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 181 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Linde were worth $5,481,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Linde in the third quarter valued at $34,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in Linde during the second quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Bangor Savings Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 62.9% during the second quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 101 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Citigroup boosted their target price on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Bank of America increased their price target on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group reduced 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, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $490.75.

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 transaction, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through the SEC website. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $457.31 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $385.12 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $218.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $472.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $451.86.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.63 earnings per share. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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 1.22%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

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.