Heritage Investors Management Corp Reduces Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Heritage Investors Management Corp reduced its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 25,893 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 1,234 shares during the period. Heritage Investors Management Corp's holdings in Linde were worth $12,347,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Linde by 0.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,676,156 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $20,744,033,000 after buying an additional 405,952 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in Linde by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,449,218 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,513,551,000 after purchasing an additional 15,187 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in Linde by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,112,160 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,365,647,000 after purchasing an additional 218,746 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its position in Linde by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,374,339 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,130,986,000 after purchasing an additional 56,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in Linde by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,993,820 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $874,908,000 after purchasing an additional 160,355 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Linde stock traded down $3.43 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $454.89. 1,749,043 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,833,290. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $385.12 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $216.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $472.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $452.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.63 earnings per share. Linde's revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.49 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. Linde's payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total value of $4,639,068.75. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,136,996. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays upped their price objective on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group reduced their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Mizuho raised their target price on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $490.75.

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.