Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Buys 27,236 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 1.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,468,134 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 27,236 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. owned 0.30% of Linde worth $681,684,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at $4,468,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Linde by 115.4% during the third quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 530 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $197,000 after buying an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 35.0% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 88,352 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $32,898,000 after buying an additional 22,918 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Linde by 25.4% in the third quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 135,593 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $50,488,000 after acquiring an additional 27,498 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Linde by 2.9% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,700 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,122,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Trading Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ LIN traded up $2.85 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $432.94. The company's stock had a trading volume of 845,532 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,059,389. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $435.05 and a 200 day moving average of $434.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $358.37 and a twelve month high of $477.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $208.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.53, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. Linde had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 19.26%. The company had revenue of $8.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.38 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.42 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th were issued a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 4th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup downgraded Linde from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 6th. HSBC lowered their price objective on shares of Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Finally, UBS Group lowered shares of Linde from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $468.83.

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.