Chilton Capital Management LLC Grows Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Chilton Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 56,718 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 2,670 shares during the quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $24,888,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Group LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. First Pacific Financial purchased a new stake in Linde in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Linde by 44.4% in the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN traded up $5.52 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $478.25. The company had a trading volume of 1,385,600 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,899,424. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $361.02 and a fifty-two week high of $479.79. 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 has a fifty day simple moving average of $448.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $447.10. The firm has a market cap of $229.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted 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 return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.30 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.57 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th 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 1.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio is 43.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $477.00 target price on shares of Linde in a report on Friday. Bank of America boosted their target price on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. 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. Finally, HSBC decreased their target price on Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $484.18.

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.