Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Boosts Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,091 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $3,757,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Linde by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,796,924 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,434,406,000 after purchasing an additional 141,322 shares in the last quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 655.7% in the 4th quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group now owns 597 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $245,000 after acquiring an additional 518 shares during the period. Schwarz Dygos Wheeler Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $203,000. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC now owns 5,278 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,168,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. Finally, Portfolio Design Labs LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $1,897,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ LIN traded up $1.51 on Tuesday, reaching $447.61. The company had a trading volume of 555,346 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,995,129. The firm has a market capitalization of $215.16 billion, a PE ratio of 34.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $361.02 and a 1 year high of $477.71. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $436.31 and a 200-day moving average of $437.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.68 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $8.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.38 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 19.26%. The business’s revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.42 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 4th were given 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 was Tuesday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on LIN shares. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. HSBC lowered their price objective on shares of Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $464.25.

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.