Pelham Capital Ltd. Reduces Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Pelham Capital Ltd. decreased its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 7.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 38,981 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 3,167 shares during the period. Linde comprises about 11.1% of Pelham Capital Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Pelham Capital Ltd.'s holdings in Linde were worth $18,588,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Retirement Group LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the first quarter worth about $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Linde in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 49.0% during the first quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 73 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Linde during the second quarter worth $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. Bank of America lifted 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. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $477.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, August 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, UBS Group lowered 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. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $484.18.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,136,996. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

Linde Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded up $0.39 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $486.45. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,255,247 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,832,751. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $361.02 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market cap of $232.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.94. The business's 50 day moving average is $469.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $450.66.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were given a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. Linde's payout ratio is 42.31%.

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.

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