Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $605.46 Million Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,269,685 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 57,365 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.27% of Linde worth $605,462,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 1.7% in the third quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,367 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $652,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the period. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 0.9% in the third quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,706 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,290,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Linde by 1.3% during the third quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,831 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $873,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the period. Finally, Nwam LLC raised its stake in Linde by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 966 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $421,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN traded up $2.95 on Thursday, hitting $465.58. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,103,036 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,833,584. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $472.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $452.12. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $389.14 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The company has a market capitalization of $221.69 billion, a PE ratio of 35.38, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.63 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.19%. Linde's payout ratio is 42.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Mizuho upped their target price on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. 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 data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $490.75.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 17,584 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.