Agate Pass Investment Management LLC Lowers Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Agate Pass Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,219 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 155 shares during the quarter. Agate Pass Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $974,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $3,066,825,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in Linde by 566.9% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,833,465 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $851,314,000 after acquiring an additional 1,558,538 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 104.2% in the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 18,679 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,672,000 after purchasing an additional 468,415 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 91.6% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 968,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $449,648,000 after purchasing an additional 463,096 shares during the period. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the first quarter valued at approximately $210,480,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of LIN stock traded up $2.92 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $449.70. The company had a trading volume of 1,167,493 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,963,469. The company has a market capitalization of $216.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $440.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $441.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.95. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $361.02 and a twelve month high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.30 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.57 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be issued a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on LIN. 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. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $475.00 to $477.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $484.18.

Linde Profile

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.