Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lowered its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 11.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 65,882 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 8,298 shares during the quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG's holdings in Linde were worth $28,910,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Linde by 22.9% in the 4th quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 1,262 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $518,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares during the period. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 9,015 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,703,000 after acquiring an additional 526 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp IN raised its stake in shares of Linde by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 3,536 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,452,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 43.3% in the 4th quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 983 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $404,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares during the period. Finally, Wynn Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter worth $337,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Trading Up 0.9 %

LIN stock traded up $4.03 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $465.74. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,307,962 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,919,406. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $361.02 and a 52 week high of $477.71. The stock has a market cap of $222.39 billion, a PE ratio of 36.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.94. 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 business's 50-day simple moving average is $445.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $444.60.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.30 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.57 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. Linde's payout ratio is 43.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on LIN shares. HSBC dropped their target price 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. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $484.18.

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.

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