Confluence Investment Management LLC Cuts Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Confluence Investment Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 338,037 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 4,983 shares during the quarter. Linde makes up about 2.2% of Confluence Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Confluence Investment Management LLC owned 0.07% of Linde worth $161,196,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 566.9% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,833,465 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $851,314,000 after buying an additional 1,558,538 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Linde in the second quarter valued at $420,720,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 47,830.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 936,076 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $446,377,000 after acquiring an additional 934,123 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 91.6% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 968,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $449,648,000 after acquiring an additional 463,096 shares during the period. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 1st quarter valued at about $210,480,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $465.47 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $472.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $452.12. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $389.14 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The company has a market capitalization of $221.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly 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 quarter last year, the business earned $3.63 earnings per share. Linde’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LIN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Mizuho raised their price target on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $490.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.