Heritage Investors Management Corp Has $12.35 Million Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Heritage Investors Management Corp trimmed its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 4.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 25,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,234 shares during the period. Heritage Investors Management Corp’s holdings in Linde were worth $12,347,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. increased its stake in shares of Linde by 133.3% in the 2nd quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 98 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Finally, Bangor Savings Bank increased its stake in shares of Linde by 62.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 101 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Trading Up 0.1 %

LIN stock traded up $0.60 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $458.92. 67,873 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,825,217. The company has a market cap of $218.52 billion, a PE ratio of 34.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $472.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $451.98. Linde plc has a one year low of $385.12 and a one year high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.96.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.63 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.21%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup lifted 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 decreased their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $490.75.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.