Stifel Financial Corp Reduces Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Stifel Financial Corp decreased its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 64.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 585,032 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 1,055,672 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp owned 0.12% of Linde worth $279,010,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its position in Linde by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 54,975 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $26,215,000 after acquiring an additional 2,312 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 3.1% during the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 51,540 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $22,616,000 after purchasing an additional 1,564 shares during the period. Waverton Investment Management Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.9% during the third quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 196,036 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $93,457,000 after purchasing an additional 1,811 shares during the period. M&G Plc grew its position in Linde by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. M&G Plc now owns 185,903 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $81,611,000 after buying an additional 2,252 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC increased its stake in Linde by 16.8% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 9,604 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,580,000 after buying an additional 1,383 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total value of $4,639,068.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. This trade represents a 36.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ:LIN traded down $10.87 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $448.58. 2,302,026 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,848,311. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $396.07 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The company has a market cap of $213.60 billion, a PE ratio of 34.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.96. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $466.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $454.97.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.63 earnings per share. Linde's revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde's payout ratio is 42.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on LIN. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target 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.